Brief Biography-Peter Lely’s wealthy family were originally from Holland but lived in Soest, Westphalia. His father changed his name from Johann van ‘der Faes’ to Lely, after the name of his birth house in The Hague. He was tutored in Haarlem by the artist Frans Pietersz de Grebber, who also taught Pieter Jansz Saendredam and Judith Jans Leyster.
When he arrived in England, he switched his attention from landscapes to portraits, as portraiture was more favourable in England. He developed the style of Anthony Van Dyck, from whom he eventually succeeded as Court Painter when Charles II resumed the throne. His portrait of Cromwell has become the most recognised picture of the Protector.
While he set up a house in Covent Garden, he became a collector of art and amassed paintings by several Italian masters. He was established as the country’s foremost portraitist, doing commissions for the nobility and the court; he eventually received a knighthood. In 1680, while painting a portrait of the Duchess of Somerset, he had a seizure and died. He lies interred in Saint Paul’s Cathedral, where he had bequeathed the princely sum of fifty pounds towards its construction.