William Chiffinch
1 portrait
© National Portrait Gallery, London
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William Chiffinch
after John Riley
oil on canvas, based on a work of circa 1670s
21 in. x 16 3/4 in. (533 mm x 425 mm) oval
Purchased, 1897
Primary Collection
NPG 1091
On display at Gawthorpe Hall, Burnley
Sitterback to top
- William Chiffinch (1602-1691), Keeper of the Privy Closet and the King's Jewels to Charles II; brother of Thomas Chiffinch. Sitter in 3 portraits.
Artistback to top
- John Riley (1646-1691), Portrait painter. Artist or producer associated with 101 portraits, Sitter in 1 portrait.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Piper, David, Catalogue of Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery, 1625-1714, 1963, p. 70
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 121
Events of 1670back to top
Current affairs
Charles II mistress, Barbara Villiers, is created Duchess of Cleveland and granted Nonsuch Palace including its sizeable grounds.Actress and royal mistress, Nell Gwyn, gives birth to Charles II's son, Charles, who would later become, Duke of St. Albans.
Art and science
Tragicomedy, The Forc'd Marriage, by Aphra Behn, staged by the Duke's Company, starts Behn's career as a professional writer. The writer may have been a royalist spy towards the end of the interregnum.Poet laureate, John Dryden, is made historiographer royal, a post he would hold for nearly 20 years.
International
Terms of a secret treaty between Charles II and Louis XIV are brought by Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans during a visit to Dover; upon England supplying the majority of military power for a war against Holland and Charles's official conversion to Catholicism, France would assist financially.Comments back to top
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See this portrait
On display at Gawthorpe Hall, Burnley
Ms. Max Wright
03 April 2020, 18:46
You list William Chiffinch's death to be 1691.
The Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 10, states William Chiffinch died at the end of 1688.
".....and [William Chiffinch] continued in favour under James II, whose fall he did not survive, dying at the end of 1688. To his house at Whitehall the Duke of Monmouth had been brought after the Sedgmoor flight in 1685, and continued there with Lord Grey until they were taken to the Tower (Bramston's Autobiography, p. 186)."
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Chiffinch,_William_(DNB00)