Barbara Palmer (née Villiers), Duchess of Cleveland

Sitterback to top

• Barbara Palmer (née Villiers), Duchess of Cleveland (1640-1709), Mistress of Charles II. Sitter associated with 33 portraits.

Artistback to top

• Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680), Portrait painter. Artist associated with 824 portraits, Sitter associated with 18 portraits.

This portraitback to top

After her marriage to Roger Palmer, (afterwards the Earl of Castlemaine), Barbara Palmer met and greatly attracted Charles II. Their attachment was not interrupted by the king's marriage to Catherine of Braganza in 1662, who after strong protest received Lady Castlemaine as a Lady of the Bedchamber and was soon reconciled to her presence. In 1670, when his mistress's hold on the king was weakening, Charles became more generous and made her a Duchess. Between 1660 and 1675 she, amongst all the Court beauties, seems to have dominated the public imagination, and there was evidently heavy demand for copies and reproductions of her portraits. The Duchess appears in her portraits in a variety of guises: as the Madonna, in widow's weeds, as a shepherdess, as St Barbara and, in this portrait, as St Catherine.

Linked publicationsback to top

• Piper, David, Catalogue of Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery, 1625-1714, 1963, p. 74
• Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 129

Subject/Themeback to top

• Gawthorpe Hall