A Portrait of Sir Richard Sprignell When a Boy

Maker Peter Lely (British, 1618-1680)

Collections

British Paintings

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

Dateca. 1648

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensionsoval: 30 x 25 in. (76.2 x 63.5 cm.)

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Gift of John and Mary Ann Sturgeon

Label TextLely creates a contemplative mood by painting his young subject against a lush backdrop of dark foliage, his right hand resting on a book. Though his identity is unsure, the sitter has long been thought to be Richard Sprignell, the younger brother of Anne Sprignell, a noblewoman who lived in Cromwell House, near London, in the middle of the 17th century. An early 19th-century chronicler relates that “Of her brother, who died in his youth, Sir Peter Lely has painted a Portrait, which is now in [her son’s] collection, and is a chef oeuvre of that exquisite Artist.”

Status

On view

Object number2009.20