Anna Maria Talbot (née Brudenell), Countess of Shrewsbury

by Sir Peter Lely
oil on canvas, feigned oval, circa 1670
29 1/2 in. x 24 1/2 in. (749 mm x 622 mm)
Purchased, 1869
Primary Collection
NPG 280

Sitterback to top

Anna Maria Talbot (née Brudenell), Countess of Shrewsbury (1642-1702), Notorious beauty; wife of 11th Earl of Shrewsbury. Sitter in 3 portraits.

Artistback to top

Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680), Portrait painter. Artist associated with 843 portraits, Sitter in 19 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

Livingstone, Natalie, author., The mistresses of Cliveden / Natalie Livingstone., 2015, p. 6
Macleod, Catharine; Alexander, Julia Marciari, Painted Ladies: Women at the Court of Charles II, 2001 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from 11 October 2001 to 6 January 2002), p. 111
Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 563

Subjects & Themesback to top

Oil
Painting

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.

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