PETER LELY/ A LYRICAL VISION

Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680) was Charles II's Principal Painter and the outstanding artistic figure of Restoration England. When Lely arrived in England in the early 1640s his ambition was to be a painter of narrative scenes and not to work as a portraitist. However , the `subject pictures' did not find favor with many English patrons and he produced less than thirty. As Lely's friend Richard Lov elace explained, all they wanted was their own dull counterfeits or portraits of their mistresses. Thus, Lely was obliged to turn to portrait...[Read more]