Two Ladies of the Lake Family
about 1660
Oil on canvas
Purchased with assistance from the Art Fund 1955
T07615
Portraits of women by Lely, like this one, tend to conform to the standards of ideal beauty which were current at Court. In such paintings, the artist was more concerned with asserting a sense of glamour and sophistication than conveying individual personalities. How does this compare with the relative restraint or even modesty of later works by Kneller and Hogarth?