Barbara Palmer (née Villiers), Duchess of Cleveland







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Barbara Palmer (née Villiers), Duchess of Cleveland
by John Michael Wright
oil on canvas, circa 1670
48 3/8 in. x 52 3/8 in. (1228 mm x 1330 mm)
Purchased, 1982
Primary Collection
NPG 5497
Sitterback to top
- Barbara Palmer (née Villiers), Duchess of Cleveland (1640-1709), Mistress of Charles II. Sitter in 35 portraits.
This portraitback to top
Barbara Villiers was a skilful manipulator of her image and was frequently portrayed. Wright depicts her as a shepherdess, a guise that may reflect her role in a court masque.
Linked publicationsback to top
- Audio Guide
- Smartify image discovery app
- 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. 132
- Ollard, Richard, Pepys and his Contemporaries, 2015, p. 63
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 129
Subjects & Themesback to top
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.Tell us more back to top
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