First Previous 27 OF 3306 NextLast

Barbara Palmer (née Villiers), Duchess of Cleveland

27 of 3306 portraits matching these criteria:

- subject matching 'Jewellery - Brooches, buckles and pins'

© National Portrait Gallery, London

 Like voting
is closed

Thanks for Liking

Please Like other favourites!
If they inspire you please support our work.

Buy a print Buy a greetings card Make a donation Close

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

Artistback to top

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

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

We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.

If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.