Sir Peter Lely (British, 1618-1680)
Sir Peter Lely, of Westphalian birth was a politically versatile and highly successful portrait painter. After the death of Van Dyck, he ran a large and efficient studio that was patronized successively by Charles I, Oliver Cromwell, and Charles II. (When Cromwell was having his portrait painted, he famously directed Lely to “remark all these roughnesses, pimples, warts and everything, as you see me.”) Lely dominated the London art scene until the rise of William Hogarth.
Information courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions October 2006