Nell Gwyn ('Madam Elinora Gwÿnne')
6 of 30 portraits of Nell Gwyn







© National Portrait Gallery, London
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Nell Gwyn ('Madam Elinora Gwÿnne')
by Abraham de Blois, published by Nicolaes Visscher II, after Sir Peter Lely
mezzotint, (1670s)
8 1/4 in. x 6 1/4 in. (210 mm x 158 mm) paper size
Reference Collection
NPG D2543
Sitterback to top
- Eleanor ('Nell') Gwyn (1651?-1687), Actress; mistress of Charles II. Sitter associated with 30 portraits.
Artistsback to top
- Abraham de Blois (active 1679-1720), Engraver and mezzotinter. Artist associated with 6 portraits.
- Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680), Portrait painter. Artist associated with 843 portraits, Sitter in 19 portraits.
- Nicolaes Visscher II (1649-1702), Publisher. Artist associated with 20 portraits.
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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Related pages
- Painted Ladies: Women at the Court of Charles II
- The Diary Room: Characters of the 17th Century
- The First Actresses: Nell Gwyn to Sarah Siddons
- Catherine Sedley
- Alexander Browne and Richard Tompson
- Restoration Lives: Samuel Pepys and His Circle
- Handlist of names in the Reference Collection
- Duchess of Cleveland Appeal
- Handlist of names in the Reference Collection - M-Z
- Barbara Villiers
- 2018 Anniversaries
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