10 works, PORTRAIT OF A LADY, Nell Gwyn (1650-1687), mistress of Charles II of England, with Footnotes. #138

Simon Pietersz Verelst  (1644–1721)

Portrait of Nell Gwyn (1650-1687), mistress of Charles II of England

Oil on canvas

height: 103.2 cm (40.6 in); width: 126.1 cm (49.6 in)

Unidentified location

In this portrait Nell is holding a six-petalled flower which has been identified as jasmine. As a flower painter, Verelst would have been familiar with jasmine’s structure and its traditional inclusion in portraits to signify the amiable nature of a sitter. Jasmine is well-known for its intoxicating scent, and this combined with its almost translucent petals and fragility, allows Verelst to play with the senses of sight, smell and touch, recognised devices characteristic of seventeenth-century Dutch painting. More on this painting

Simon Pietersz Verelst (1644–1721?) was a flower and portrait painter, born at the Hague in 1644, was younger son of Pieter Verelst, a painter, originally of Antwerp. He painted portraits and also small peasant scenes in the manner of Ostade, Sorgh, and other painters, for whose works his pictures have often been mistaken. In 1642 he settled at The Hague, where he became a prominent member of the guild of St. Luke. 

erelst excelled in flower-painting, his works being remarkable for their finish and exactness, and as rivalling those of the famous flower-painter of that date, Rachel Ruysch. He seems to have come to London in 1669, and lodged near Jan Looten [q. v.] in St. James's market, where he was seen by Samuel Pepys. In his diary for 11 April 1669, Pepys says that he visited Looten, who "by accident did direct us to a painter that was then in the house with him, a Dutchman, newly come over, who took us to his lodging close by, and did show us a little flower-pot of his drawing, the finest thing that ever, I think, I saw in my life; so as I was forced again and again to put my finger to it, to feel whether my eyes were deceived or no." He did ask 70l. for it; I had the vanity to bid him 20l. But a better picture I never saw in my whole life, and it is worth going twenty miles to see it.’

Verelst's flower-paintings were quickly the fashion of the day. The second Duke of Buckingham urged him to attempt portraiture, and he painted a small portrait of the duke surrounded with fruit and flowers. The novelty of treatment became fashionable, and Verelst's services were eagerly competed for by the court and nobility. 

Verelst became inordinately vain and conceited, and regarded himself as the god of flowers and a king of painters. Matthew Prior celebrated his paintings in verse. The Earl of Shaftesbury, however, was so much disgusted with Verelst's behaviour that he declined to sit to him. At last Verelst's excessive conceit produced a disordered mind, and he was placed in confinement. Although he recovered partially, he lost his vogue as an artist, and died in Suffolk Street about 1721.  More on Simon Pietersz Verelst

Nell Gwyn, original name Eleanor Gwyn, (born Feb. 2, 1650, London, Eng.—died Nov. 14, 1687, London), English actress and mistress of Charles II, whose frank recklessness, generosity, invariable good temper, ready wit, infectious high spirits, and amazing indiscretions appealed irresistibly to a generation that welcomed in her the living antithesis of Puritanism.

William Powell Frith, RA (British, 1819-1909)

Nell Gwyn, c. 1869

Nell Gwyn the orange seller

Oil on canvas

105 x 87.5cm (41 5/16 x 34 7/16in)

Private collection

Sold for £25,500 in Sep 2022

Taking her place in the pit, and with her back to the orchestra, and selling oranges and pippins with pertinent wit, gratis to liberal fops who would buy the first and return the second with interest. As Rochester assures us, there was a "wondering pit" in the presence of this smartest and most audacious of orange girls. More on this painting

William Powell Frith (Born Aldfield, nr. Ripon, Yorkshire, 9 January 1819; died London, 2 November 1909). English painter. He began his career with literary subjects (from Shakespeare, Scott, and other authors), but in the 1850s he turned to contemporary scenes, with which he had great commercial success. Three of his pictures are particularly renowned—crowded, anecdote-packed scenes that rank among the most familiar images of Victorian life: Life at the Seaside (or Ramsgate Sands) (1854, Royal Coll.), Derby Day (1858, Tate, London), and The Railway Station (1862, Royal Holloway, University of London). Derby Day was so popular when it was shown at the Royal Academy that it had to be railed off from the throng of admirers, a distinction previously accorded only to Wilkie's Chelsea Pensioners in 1822.

Frith's My Autobiography and Reminiscences (1887) and Further Reminiscences (1888) give lively accounts of the art world of his time. His reputation sank after his death but greatly revived as part of the general re-evaluation of Victorian art after the Second World War. More on William Powell Frith

Her father, according to tradition, died in a debtors’ prison at Oxford during Nell’s infancy. Her mother kept a bawdyhouse in the Covent Garden district, where Nell was brought up “to fill strong waters [brandy] to the guests”. In 1664, through the influence of her older sister, Rose, Nell became an orange-girl at the Drury Lane Theatre. Quickly attracting the attention of the theatre’s leading actor, Charles Hart, whose mistress she became, Nell mounted the stage and probably made her first appearance in December 1665.

Charles Landseer (1799–1879)

Nell Gwynn at the Tavern, c.1840

Oil on canvas

H 103 x W 127.6 cm

Walker Art Gallery

Nell Gwyn holding a basket, standing at a table around which men are sitting and standing, in a tavern; one man places a slip of paper into her basket, other slips are hanging over the edge of the basket and she is holding one in her right hand; there is a dog at her feet and a servant is about to enter on the left. The man at the head of the table has risen to his feet to offer a toast. More on this painting

Charles Landseer RA (12 August 1799 – 22 July 1879) was an English painter, mostly of historical subjects.

He was born in London on 12 August 1799. He trained under his father, and the painter Benjamin Robert Haydon. He was awarded the silver palette of the Royal Society of Arts for a drawing of Laocoon in 1815, and in 1816 he entered the Royal Academy Schools where he was taught by Henry Fuseli.

In 1823 he accompanied Sir Charles Stuart de Rothesay on a diplomatic mission to Portugal and Brazil. Many of the drawings he made on the journey were shown at the British Institution in 1828.

He became an associate in of the Royal Academy in 1837, and a full academician in 1845. In 1851, he was appointed Keeper of the Royal Academy, a post requiring him to teach in the "Antique School". He remained in the position until 1873.

Most of his pictures were of subjects from British history, or from literature. He paid close attention to the historical accuracy of the accessories and details in his paintings.

He died in London on 22 July 1879, More on Charles Landseer

From 1666 to 1669 Nell was the leading comedienne of the King’s Company, playing continuously, save for a brief absence in 1667, while she was the mistress of Lord Buckhurst, afterward 6th Earl of Dorset. She created such popular roles as Florimel in John Dryden’s Secret Love, Mirida in James Howard’s All Mistaken, and Jacinta in Dryden’s Evening’s Love. An excellent singer and dancer and much in demand as a speaker of impudent prologues and epilogues, “pretty, witty Nell” was ill-suited to serious parts, yet she was often cast for roles in romantic dramas.

Rowland Holyoake, (British, exh.1880-1911)

Charles II and Nell Gwyn, c. 1900

Oil on canvas laid down

27 9/16 x 39 9/16in

Private collection

Sold for £2,760 in Mar 2010

Rowland Holyoake (probably born between 1855 and 1860), was the son of William Holyoake (1834-1894), a genre painter from Birmingham (UK) and frequent exhibitor at the Royal Society of British Artists. Under Whistler as president, William Holyoake served briefly as vice-president of the Royal Society of British Artists and William was named Curator of one of the Academy schools. The National Gallery in Glasgow has William Holyoake's Front Row of the Opera and another of his paintings, The Sanctuary hangs in the Chapels of Westminster Abbey. Rowland continued in the Victorian genre tradition of his father but he also painted landscapes, portraits and interiors. More on Rowland Holyoake

Edward Matthew Ward (1816–1879)

Charles II (1630–1685), and Nell Gwyn (1650–1687), c. 1854

Oil on canvas

H 34.8 x W 29.8 cm

Victoria and Albert Museum

Edward Matthew Ward was an English historical painter. His mother was a sister of James and Horace Smith, the authors of 'Rejected Addresses.' His art proclivities early developed themselves, and in 1830, he obtained the silver palette of the Society of Arts. He was in debted to Chantrey and Wilkie for much valuable advice and encouragement, and in 1835, entered the schools of the Royal Academy. Before he was twenty he produced a series of illustrations to the famous jeu d'esprit of his two uncles. In 1836,he went to Rome, and studied in the Academy of St. Luke, where in 1838, he was awarded the silver medal for historical composition. After a stay of three years in Italy, he made his way to Munich, and worked on fresco painting for a time under the direction of Cornelius. On his return to England he made his appearance on the walls of the Royal Academy in1839, with a picture of 'Cimabue and Giotto.' He soon devoted himself to the class of subjects which has been termed "historical anecdote." More on Edward Matthew Ward

Nell once paid for the King’s dinner. She was attending a performance of George Etheredge’s She Wou’d if She Cou’d at the theatre in Lincoln’s Inn Fields. In the next box was the King, who spent more time flirting with Nell than watching the play. Charles invited her to supper, along with his brother, the Duke of York. Apparently the King discovered that he had no money on him, and neither did his brother the Duke, so Nell had to foot the bill. “Od’s fish!” she is said to have exclaimed, “but this is the poorest company I ever was in!”

After Peter Lely  (1618–1680) 

‘Nell’ Eleanor Gwyn (Gwynne) (1651–1687), c. circa 1675

Oil on canvas

height: 124.4 cm (48.9 in); width: 99.1 cm (39 in)

National Trust

Nell Gwyn is wearing a white decollete robe, with her left arm resting on a lamb on the right, her right fingers touching a garland, in a garden; behind to the right is a fluted column, distant landscape view to the left. More on this painting

Peter Lely, Dutch, British, English (Born Soest, Westphalia, 14 September 1618; died London, 30 November 1680). Painter of Dutch origin who spent almost all his career in England and was naturalized in 1662. His family name was originally van der Faes, and the name Lely is said to have come from a lily carved on the house in The Hague where his father was born. Lely was born in Germany and trained in Haarlem.

He moved to England in the early 1640s, and although he first painted figure compositions in landscapes (Sleeping Nymphs, c.1650, Dulwich Picture Gal., London), he soon turned to the more profitable field of portraiture. 

Fortune shone on him, for within a few years of his arrival the best portraitists in England disappeared from the scene: van Dyck and William Dobson died in 1641 and 1646 respectively, and Cornelius Johnson returned to Holland in 1643. In 1654 he was described as ‘the best artist in England’. Lely portrayed Charles I and his children, Oliver Cromwell and his son Richard, and other leading figures of the Interregnum. With the aid of a team of assistants he maintained an enormous output, and his fleshy, sleepy beauties clad in exquisite silks and his bewigged courtiers have created the popular image of Restoration England. More on Peter Lely

Nell became a mistress of Charles II in 1669. Her last stage appearance was with Hart in Dryden’s Conquest of Granada by the Spaniards (January 1670), the production of which had been postponed several months for her return to the stage after the birth of her first son by the king in 1670.

Simon Verelst, The Hague c.1644 - c.1710 London

Portrait of Nell Gwyn (1650–1687)

Oil on canvas

123.3 x 98.5 cm.; 48½ x 38¾ in.

Private collection

Sold for 189,000 GBP in June 2022

Described by biographers as ‘the real Queen of Restoration England’, few Royal Mistresses can claim greater fame than Nell Gwyn. Actress, muse, patroness and official mistress to King Charles II for a period of seventeen years, Gwyn’s life might be England’s greatest rags to riches story. Charles Beauclerk (b. 1965), heir to the present Duke of St Albans and a descendent of Nell, went as far to describe his forebear as ‘the original people’s princess. 

The present work, showing Nell décolletée, with an open bodice, is one of the few portraits that has been securely identified as Charles’s most famous mistress. Such paintings attest to Nell Gwyn’s fame as a pioneer of celebrity in Britain. More on this painting

Studio of Sir Peter Lely (1618-80)

Portrait of a Courtesan, thought to be Nell Gwynn c.1670s

Oil on canvas laid onto board

30 x 24 5/8 inches 76.2 x 62.5 cm

Private collection

It is extremely rare to see a portrait in such a state of undress. Only a sitter relaxed about her status, and unconcerned about both her class background and received social etiquette, would consent to being painted in this manner. That Nell Gwyn was one of very few subjects thus painted can only help to reinforce this portrait’s traditional identification. More on this painting

Sir Peter Lely (Westphalia 1618-1680 London)

Portrait of a young woman and child, as Venus and Cupid

The young woman almost certainly either Barbara Villiers, Countess of Castlemaine, and Duchess of Cleveland (1640-1709), or Nell Gwyn (1650-1687), full-length, naked, beside an urn, a landscape beyond

Oil on canvas

48¾ x 61¾ in. (123.8 x 156.8 cm.)

Unidentified location

This painting by Lely offers a remarkable glimpse of the culture of the newly restored Court of King Charles II, and is one of the most overtly sensuous portraits to have been painted in 17th Century England. It has long been associated with the work recorded in King James II's inventory of 1688 (three years after the death of King Charles II) as 'Madam Gwynn's Picture naked, with a Cupid', tantalisingly described as being hidden behind a 'slideing peice' by Hendrik Dankerts, yet the identity of the sitter as Nell Gwyn has been the subject of much debate. More on this painting

Established in a fine house and admitted to the inner circles of the court, Nell spent the rest of her life entertaining the king and his friends, living extravagantly, and intriguing against her rivals. She persuaded the king to create her son Charles Beauclerk, 1st Baron Heddington and Earl of Burford and, subsequently, Duke of St. Albans. Her second son, James, Lord Beauclerk (b. 1671), died in 1680. Nell settled her mother in a house in Chelsea, where, in July 1679, overcome by brandy, Mrs. Gwyn fell into a nearby brook and was drowned.

Of all the mistresses of Charles II, Nell was the only one beloved by the public. She was small, slender, and shapely, with a heart-shaped face, hazel eyes, and chestnut-brown hair. She was illiterate and scrawled an awkward “E.G.” at the bottom of her letters, written for her by others. She never forgot her old friends and, as far as is known, remained faithful to her royal lover from the beginning of their intimacy until his death and, after his death, to his memory.

Edward Matthew Ward (1816–1879)

Antechamber at Whitehall during the Dying Moments of Charles II, c.1861

Oil on canvas

H 160.3 x W 229.2 cm

Walker Art Gallery

When Charles II died in February 1685, Nell was so deeply in debt that she was outlawed by her creditors. The king’s deathbed request to his brother, “Let not poor Nelly starve,” however, was faithfully carried out by James II, who paid off enough of her debts to reestablish her credit, gave her sizable amounts in cash, and settled on her a pension of £1,500 a year. In March 1687 Nell was stricken by apoplexy and partial paralysis. She died eight months later and was buried in the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. More on Nell Gwyn

In her will, she left money to those in debt. Always conscious of her humble upbringing, Nell asked that twenty pounds a year should be put aside to release debtors from the prison on Christmas Day. A way to remember a woman who crossed all boundaries and still retained a kind heart.

The only statue of any royal mistress in the city of London is the one of Nell Gwyn. In 1937, a new ten-storey block of 437 flats in Chelsea was given the name ‘Nell Gwynn House’, and in a high alcove above the main entrance is a statue of Nell, with a spaniel at her feet. More anecdotes about Nell Gwyn

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