Barbara Palmer (née Villiers), Duchess of Cleveland with her son, probably Charles FitzRoy, as the Virgin and Child

Sittersback to top

• Charles FitzRoy, Duke of Cleveland (1662-1730), Illegitimate son of Charles II. Sitter associated with 2 portraits.
• Barbara Palmer (née Villiers), Duchess of Cleveland (1640-1709), Mistress of Charles II. Sitter in 35 portraits.

Artistback to top

• Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680), Portrait painter. Artist or producer associated with 843 portraits, Sitter in 19 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Barbara Villiers was effectively Lely's muse, her looks the inspiration for his type of female beauty. A contemporary commented that 'he put something of Cleveland's face as her Languishing Eyes into every one Picture, so that all his pictures had an Air one of another, all the Eyes were Sleepy alike'. Lely himself is said to have commented 'that it was beyond the compass of art to give this lady her due, as to her sweetness and exquisite beauty'. Lely and Villiers had a mutually beneficial relationship, in which her prominence at court promoted his art and his art publicised her beauty and status. Probably dating from about 1664, the painting is a portrait historié, or a portrait showing a recognisable sitter posing in the role of a figure from history or mythology. This audacious portrait, of the King's mistress and bastard as the Madonna and Child, represents the climax of his work in this genre. It could only have been produced at this time and in this place; thus it can be seen as a fitting representation of the values of Charles II's court.

This portrait was offered to the Gallery in 2004, and being of a famous sitter by a very important artist, was of clear interest to the collection. Curators began the process of carrying out further research on the work prior to presenting it as a potential acquisition to the Board of Trustees. This typically involves art historical research to ensure that the work is what it claims to be, but also research into the work’s provenance, or history of ownership. This research is carried out on every object considered for the collection. It allows the Gallery to establish that the work hasn’t been stolen, and, in particular, that it was not looted by the Nazis, or the subject of a forced sale, in the period between 1933 and 1945.
Checks were carried out using the relevant databases, only to find a description of a portrait of Barbara Villiers by Sir Peter Lely which had been stolen from a palace in Hungary by the Nazis during the Second World War. Part of the collection of the Hatvany family of bankers, it was taken to Germany in 1944 and never recovered. The Gallery would not consider acquiring a stolen work, so further research was needed to check whether the portrait in the description was the same as the one now on offer to the Gallery, or one of the many other images of Villiers made during her lifetime.
The curator involved was confident that the painting on offer was unlikely to be the looted work because of her familiarity with optimistic attributions and identifications. The drama and salaciousness of Charles II’s court has been of interest to people for centuries and as a result there are number of mis-identified portraits of his mistresses; similarly, Sir Peter Lely’s name, the foremost court artist of the period, is often mistakenly attached to paintings.
Sure enough, during the course of further research, the curator found an old photograph showing the looted painting hanging in the Hatvany Palace. This work was clearly quite different to the portrait offered to the Gallery, and following a public appeal, the portrait was purchased for the nation in 2005.

Linked publicationsback to top

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• Cannadine, Sir David (Introduction); Cooper, Tarnya; Stewart, Louise; MacGibbon, Rab; Cox, Paul; Peltz, Lucy; Moorhouse, Paul; Broadley, Rosie; Jascot-Gill, Sabina, Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits, 2018 (accompanying the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA, 7 October 2018 -3 February 2019. Bendigo Art Gallery, Australia, 16 March - 14 July 2019.), p. 133 Read entry

  A household name in her day, Barbara Villiers was mistress to King Charles II for the first decade of his reign. She bore six children, five of whom he acknowledged as his own. Famous for her beauty, she was despised by many for her lifestyle, and came to symbolise the excess and promiscuity of the Restoration court. As a result of her access to the king, she had some political influence and is thought to have both made and broken political careers.

  The artist Peter Lely was the leading portrait painter of the day and the king's Principal Painter. Barbara Villiers was effectively his muse, and her heavy-lidded, 'sleepy’ look became the fashionable style of beauty for court women partly as a result of Lely's paintings. Lely depicted her in a wide range of roles: as Minerva, St Catherine, St Barbara, a shepherdess and, here, most audaciously, as the Virgin Mary, with her child - probably her eldest son by the king - as the Christ Child. Portraits depicting the sitters in a religious or allegorical to such as this were usually intended to flatter the sitter, but here the irony of depicting the notorious Barbara Villiers in this way must have been noted by contemporary viewers. That such a portrait could exist at all is a reflection of the relative permissiveness of the Restoration court.

• Cooper, John, A Guide to the National Portrait Gallery, 2009, p. 23 Read entry

  Charles II’s mistress and Lely’s muse, Cleveland’s ‘languishing eyes’ were much admired and imitated by other women as, presumably, was her breezy attitude to Christian iconography.

• Edited by Lucy Peltz & Louise Stewart, Love Stories: Art, Passion & Tragedy, 2020, p. 36
• Ollard, Richard, Pepys and his Contemporaries, 2015, p. 58
• Rab MacGibbon, National Portrait Gallery: The Collection, p. 32
• Various contributors, National Portrait Gallery: A Portrait of Britain, 2014, p. 87 Read entry

  A household name in her day, Barbara Villiers was the mistress of Charles II for the first decade of his reign. Charles acknowledged five of her six children as his own. Famous for her beauty and her ‘sleepy’ eyes, she was despised by many for her lifestyle and came to symbolise the excess and promiscuity of the Restoration court. As a means of access to the King, she had some political influence and is thought to have both made and broken political careers. Charles created her a duchess in her own right, and her sons were created dukes.

  The artist Peter Lely (1618–80) was the leading portrait painter of the day and the King’s Principal Painter. Barbara Villiers was his muse and, according to the diaries of the antiquarian Thomas Hearne, Lely is said to have stated ‘that it was beyond the compass of art to give this lady her due, as to her sweetness and exquisite beauty’. Lely painted her in a wide range of roles, as Minerva, St Catherine, St Barbara, a shepherdess, and here, most audaciously, as the Virgin Mary, with her child – probably her eldest son by the King – as the Christ Child.

Subjects & Themesback to top

• Children
• Double portraits
• Hats and head attire
• Oil paintings
• Paintings
• Religion, faith and spirituality

Events of 1664back to top

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