Portrait of Lady Elizabeth Felton (?). c. 1680; Studio or Circle of Sir Peter Lely.

Oil on canvas in richly carved period frame.

The sitter, possibly Lady Elizabeth Felton, (nee Howard) (1656-1681) looks out at the viewer...her head tilted provocatively and her chemise pulled partly out of her dress. The image is charged with an eroticism that was typical of Elizabeth.
Lady Elizabeth Howard was the daughter of James Howard, 3rd Earl of Suffolk and Barbara Villiers.
She was considered a great beauty in her day and had become notorious at the Restoration Court by the time of her sudden death in !681 aged 25.

At the age of 19 she had married Thomas Felton, a Groom of the Bedchamber to Charles II, against the wishes of her parents; Elizabeth then proceeded to engage in a series of extra-marital affairs, notable even at the promiscuous Carolean court.
Amongst her lovers were the infamous rake and poet, John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester and Charles II's illegitimate son James, Duke of Monmouth.

SIR PETER LELY (1618 - 1680) was the most important portraitist in the reign of Charles ll, although he had painted portraits throughout the Commonwealth. Principal Painter to the King, he painted everyone of importance, maintaining a busy and active Studio to help with the huge demand for his portraits. Members of his Circle, and his Followers, many of them talented artists in their own right, emulated his style to supply this constant market.

SIZE: 35 x 29 inches inc. frame.
PROVENANCE: inscription verso:-
'Rev'd HA GOODWIN, Corpus Xti College, Cambridge.
Gertrude Goodwin.
Leslie Goodwin.
Christopher John Hughes.
(GOODWIN TRUST)'

The Rev. H.A. Goodwin of Watton House, Norfolk, Fellow of Corpus Christi College, married Katherine Susan, 2nd daughter of J.G. Crosse Esq, M.D. of Norwich on 16 February 1850.