Oil on canvas, 113cm by 95.25cm. A pendant to PIC095.
The 2nd Earl of Salisbury was the grandson of William Cecil, Lord Burghley (1520-1598) and the maternal grandfather of Anne, wife of John, 5th Earl of Exeter (1648-1700).
The 1690 Devonshire Schedule, which details Anne’s remarkable inheritance from her mother, Elizabeth, Countess of Devonshire (1619-1689), lists under ‘Oyle colour Pictures…….A picture of the late Earle of Salisbury in a Carv’d fframe.’
The Dutch born Lely arrived in England in 1641 and after the death of Sir Anthony van Dyck later that year, Lely succeeded him as the most fashionable portrait painter in England.
