Studio of Sir Peter Lely

This portrait is a studio repetition of Sir Peter Lely's portrait of Queen Anne which is in a private collection.¹ Painted in circa 1678, when the Princess was around the age of thirteen, the prime version of this painting was engraved in the seventeenth century but was only rediscovered in 2003.² It is likely that the Queen may have presented Lely's autograp painting to her goddaughter Ann Sharp (1691–c.1771), in whose family it has descended. It is plausible that studio repetitions, such as this painting, would also have been gifted to persons favoured by the Royal family.

¹ D.A.H.B. Taylor, 'A Rediscovered Portrait of Queen Anne, When a Child, by Sir Peter Lely', in Burlington Magazine, vol. 145, no. 1204, July 2003, p. 503, fig. 22 reproduced in colour.

² Taylor 2003, pp. 501–504.; Engraving by Richard Tompson, 33 x 25 cm.; https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw41740/Queen-Anne-when-Princess