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Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester

by Robert Williams, after Willem Wissing
mezzotint, late 17th century
9 1/2 in. x 7 in. (240 mm x 177 mm) plate size; 13 in. x 10 1/8 in. (330 mm x 256 mm) paper size
Purchased with help from the Friends of the National Libraries and the Pilgrim Trust, 1966
Reference Collection
NPG D1769

Sitterback to top

Artistsback to top

  • Robert Williams (active 1680-1704), Mezzotinter. Artist associated with 76 portraits.
  • Willem Wissing (1656-1687), Portrait painter. Artist associated with 146 portraits, Sitter in 3 portraits.

Related worksback to top

  • NPG D1770: Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester (from same plate)
  • NPG D1771: Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester (from same plate)
  • NPG D18998: Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester (from same plate)

Portrait setback to top

Subject/Themeback 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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