He is most famous for his portraits of women at the court of Charles II. Sir Peter Lely, a Dutch artist who worked most of his life in London, was the leading portrait painter at court. His life was divided between domesticity in the country and a riotous existence at court, where he was renowned for drunkenness, vivacious conversation, and 'extravagant frolics'. A patron of other poets including John Dryden, Rochester was often dismissed from court in disgrace. Yet his real fame was as a courtier, wit, rake, and a poet whose obscene satires and other poems could not be published openly until the end of the 20th century. John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester (1647-1680) is shown here in pseudo-Roman dress, with a cuirass or steel breastplate, as he had distinguished himself by his bravery in a battle at sea. There are at least three versions of this painting, and a descendant of Rochester's family owned this one until 1875. Various members of a sitter's family would want their own canvases of their famous or notorious ancestors. He dropped dead, palette literally in hand, while painting the Duchess of Somerset.Portraits in oil of members of the nobility were produced in great numbers and often exist in several versions. Yet he remained a prolific painter of women until his dying day. Women may have been more critical of his tendency to reverse-photoshop, adding the fashionable double chins and Roman noses to his female sitters, a la Sports Illustrated: Rubenesque Edition. Brian Sewell remarks that, “…no sight is more aesthetically and intellectually numbing.” Oh Brian, you sassy felly, you! But critics comment on the mass-produced quality. In consequence, he was the first British-active artist to amass an enormous body of work. He saw the potential of printmaking to publicize and commercialize his work, and introduced mezzotint to Britain. He kept a numbered catalogue of his poses, and delegated grunt work to assistants. Lely’s factory-style production method predates 20 th-century commercial artists like Andy Warhol and Margaret Keane by centuries. Knowing his business savvy, Lely probably charged by the nipple. His unclothed pin-up of Charles’ mistress Nell Gwyn (which the King kept hidden behind a landscape) would have been quite fun to paint. In Charles II’s libertine court, Lely could finally stop painting old guy's skin tags and start painting young beauties’ exposed breasts, a task he seems to have enjoyed very much based on his sensual rendering of female sitters. If Lely’s luxurious living tells us anything, it’s that Turncoats have full pockets. When Cromwell fell and Charles II returned to the throne, Lely flip-flopped again to paint the Restoration court. Cromwell famously instructed Lely to paint him “warts and all.” In an era when even laughter was banned as too risqué, Lely privately painted erotic masterpieces like Nymphs by a Fountain (1650), revealing his true calling. When Charles was beheaded by Oliver Cromwell’s regime, Lely changed sides to paint the new Puritan elite. He started out painting for the Court of King Charles I. He liked to live large and was never above chasing the next big meal ticket. Always the opportunist, Lely stepped up and styled himself the most fashionable painter of the 17th century. He was also lucky to arrive in England from Holland the same year as the death of reigning king of portraiture Anthony van Dyck, leaving an opening in the market. Lely was lucky to peak in an era that didn’t begrudge aristocratic women a wardrobe malfunction. Sir Peter Lely’s work feels like a high budget episode of Girls Gone Wild, or clubbing with Tara Reid on fancy-dress night.
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