Portrait of a Lady with a Blue Drape

This portrait depicts a young woman seated in a landscape, looking out and locking eyes with the viewer. She wears a gold and white dress partially covered by a blue drape that she brings over chest with her right hand. Touches of white paint make her nose, eyes, and lips glisten, much like the pearls on her necklace. Her calm, dignified beauty contrasts with the lyrical ruggedness of the landscape behind, which has become obscured with age.  

The Dutch-British painter, Peter Lely (1618-80), succeeded the Flemish master, Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641), as the most successful portrait painter in England after being appointed as Principal Painter by King Charles II (1630-85), on the restoration of the monarchy in 1661. He and his workshop built a dominanting practice that emulated Van Dyck’s elegance, fluid brushwork, and romantic poses and drapery. This picture is probably a pair with another work in the Dulwich Picture Gallery’s collection, Lely’s Portrait of a Lady in Blue Holding a Flower (DPG560). Both works were bought at the sale of the Townshend collection in 1904 and may show sisters from that family.