Studio of Sir Peter Lely, 
English / Dutch 1618-1680- 
Prince Rupert of the Rhine (1619-1682),...

Studio of Sir Peter Lely, 
English / Dutch 1618-1680- 

Prince Rupert of the Rhine (1619-1682), standing three-quarter length, wearing the robes of the Order of the Garter; 

oil on canvas, bears old inscribed label 'James Duke of York / Per Wissing' and an old printed label 'James Duke of York' on the stretcher bars, 127.5 x 102.2 cm., (unframed). 

Provenance: 
Lady Anne Tree (1927-2010), Mereworth Castle, Kent. 
Her sale; Christie's, London, 14 June 1968, lot 39 (as 'Portrait of James, Duke of York, later King James II, three-quarter length in the robes of the Order of the Garter');
where purchased by 'J. Flower'. 
Private Collection, UK. 

Note: 
Prince Rupert was the son of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, and Princess Elizabeth, sister of King Charles I of England. He has enjoyed, in posterity, a better reputation than he may ever have had during his life. Quite rightly, subsequent generations have admired his courage in serving his uncle King Charles I during the Civil War, where he commanded the Royalist cavalry at engagements such as Edge Hill and Marston Moor. They have equally found sympathetic the scientific and artistic curiosity in which he was able to indulge after the Restoration. He was closely involved in the business of the Royal Society and, for example, introduced ‘Prince Rupert’s Drops’ to this country. He was also a pioneer of mezzotint engraving - although he did not, as once thought, invent the process - and corresponded on the subject with John Evelyn. 

Rupert suffered, however, from the jealously and mistrust of two sets of the population. On the one hand, he was feared by his adversaries of the 1640s, both as an accomplished general, and - sometimes with reason - as a foreign soldier who fought his battles with the bloodthirstiness more commonly seen on the battlefields of Europe, on which he had, of course, come of age, fighting for his father’s throne in Bohemia. There was a good number of people in England who would never wish him well after rumoured massacres in actions such as the siege of Birmingham. For this reason, among others, although he enjoyed a career as an admiral under Charles II, observers such as Pepys seldom speak kindly of him or take any pleasure in his successes. Equally, for the second part of his detractors, he suffered from the jealousy of all of those royalists who were less talented and courageous in the field, and who resented him having command over them because he was a foreigner. It is pleasing, therefore, that after his death at least, he is often appreciated as a dynamic officer, popular with those under his command who were not blinded by jealousy, and as an intelligent and inquiring mind who may be said to have assisted at the birth of English scientific investigation. 

In this portrait Rupert's left hand is on his hip, his head turned towards the viewer wearing a long dark brown wig. He wears a white lace-edged collar and the ceremonial robes of the Order of the Garter (dark blue lined with white) which he joined in 1642 on the invitation of King Charles I. The Order of the Garter was one of the highest orders of chivalry in Europe, and the member knights took considerable pleasure in the opulence of the Garter costume. Rupert’s sword is visible hanging from his left side and a fluted column is behind. 

Rupert apparently only sat for the great 17th-century court painter Sir Peter Lely once and the ‘ad vivum’ head study was then used as the basis for a number of compositions by Lely and his talented studio assistants. Several variants of this portrait-type exist and other examples can be found at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (Lely) [BHC2989]; at Hartwell House, Buckinghamshire (Lely and Studio) [NT 1548140]; and the National Portrait Gallery, London (Studio of Lely) [no.608]. There are also full-length versions of the present work, evolved by Lely for Garter Knight portraits in the mid-1660s and used for some time afterwards. Lely produced a set for Sir Allen Apsley at Cirencester Park, for example. Two other full-length versions of this portrait type exist - one is in the collection of the Duke of Grafton (see O. Millar, ‘Sir Peter Lely’, exhibition catalogue, National Portrait Gallery, London, 1978, p.61, no.43), and another sold at Christie's, London, 27 April 2007, lot 25 (£48,000) (Lely and Studio).