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1 of 253523 objects
Sir Peter Lely (1618-80)
Henry, Duke of Gloucester (1640-1660) c.1649-50
Oil on canvas | 127.5 x 103.7 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 406178
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Henry, Duke of Gloucester was the youngest son of Charles I. The portrait seems to have been painted between June 1649 and August 1650, when the Duke (then aged 9-10) and his sister Elizabeth (aged 14-15) were in care of the Earl and Countess of Leicester at Penshurst. The spaniel appears in other portraits by Lely of around the same date, and probably belonged to the Leicesters.
This is one of the earliest paintings by Lely for the royal family; after the Restoration he was appointed Principal Painter to Charles II with a pension of £200 a year. The Arcadian atmosphere, with the young Prince depicted as a shepherd, crook over his shoulder and loyal dog by his side, gives no indication of the contemporary political turmoil unfolding elsewhere in the country, which culminated in the execution of the king in January 1649.
Lely originally conceived the composition as a half length portrait, which was then extended on all sides to incorporate the lower body and dog. At a later (but still early) date it was enlarged again to its current size. It seems to have first entered the collection during the reign of the subject's brother, James II.
Provenance
First recorded in the Princesses Dressing Room at Windsor Castle in 1688 (no 1109); in the Queen's Green Closet at St James's Palace in 1710 (no 32); hanging in the Coffee Room at Buckingham Palace in 1819 (no 770); back in St James's in 1864 (no 31)
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
127.5 x 103.7 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
109.0 x 93.0 cm (support, excluding additions)
146.3 x 122.0 x 5.0 cm (frame, external)
Category
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
Alternative title(s)
William, Prince of Orange (1650-1702), previously identified as
