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.

Artistback to top

John Michael Wright (1617-1694), Painter. Artist associated with 29 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.

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