Sir Edward Nicholas
1 portrait
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Sir Edward Nicholas
by Sir Peter Lely
oil on canvas, 1662
49 in. x 39 1/2 in. (1245 mm x 1003 mm)
Purchased, 1908
Primary Collection
NPG 1519
Artistback to top
- Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680), Portrait painter. Artist or producer associated with 843 portraits, Sitter in 19 portraits.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 458
- Simon, Jacob, The Art of the Picture Frame: Artists, Patrons and the Framing of Portraits in Britain, 1997 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 8 November 1996 - 9 February 1997), p. 56, 151 Read entry
Carved and gilt pine, mitred lap joint with bevelled edge, the frame grained or similarly finished, perhaps in the nineteenth century, but now perished revealing the original gilding in places. 2 3⁄ 8 inches wide.
This recently cleaned portrait of Sir Edward Nicholas, Secretary of State under both Charles I and Charles II, was seen by George Vertue in or before 1731 at West Horsley, the Nicholas family house, along with copies by Henry Paert of portraits of three other Royalist leaders, Lord Capel, Lord Northampton and Sir William Compton, all of which came to the National Portrait Gallery in 1908 with similar cushion frames.1 This portrait is exhibited with the frame from the portrait of Lord Capel which is similar in design to the Nicholas but of rather better quality.
1 See Arthur Oswald, 'West Horsley Place, Surrey', Country Life, vol.LXXXV, 1939, p 332.
Events of 1662back to top
Current affairs
Marriage of Catherine of Braganza to Charles II. A spectacular pageant on the Thames greets Catherine as she arrives at Whitehall Palace.Act of Uniformity, lays down requirements for the clergy to remain in the Church of England, forcing hundreds to be ejected from their livings.
Art and science
Physicist Robert Boyle publishes A Defence of the Doctrine, Touching the Spring and Weight of the Air, which contains the first formulation of Boyle's Law, describing the relationship between pressure and volume of gases.International
Upon restoration of the monarchy, pro-royalist and Catholic Irish landlords, notably James Butler, Duke of Ormonde, appeal to the king to restore their lands confiscated during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. However, political wrangling and insufficient land renders the subsequent Act of Settlement, passed by the Irish Parliament, unworkable.Comments back to top
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