Sir Peter Lely 1618-1680

Three-quarter length, wearing a blue dress

By descent in the family of the Earls of Stamford to Sir John Foley Grey, Bt., Enville Hall Sale, 15th June 1928, lot 56, bt. Colnaghi for £997-10-0; 
Frederick Howard Reed, by whose executors sold, Christie's, 18th November 1955, lot 152, bt. Urquhart;
Anon. sale, Christie's, 2nd April 1971, lot 128, bt. Noble

R.B. Beckett, Lely, 1951, no.401

This fine portrait dates from c.1658. It hung at Enville Hall near Stourbridge, the seat of the Earls of Stamford. When it was sold in the Enville Hall sale in 1928 the sitter was described as "Lady Jane Ogle", but no sitter matching this description can be traced and in his monograph on Lely R.B. Beckett described her as "A Lady of the Grey Family".  Alastair Laing has suggested that the portrait appears to have been painted en suite with the portrait of Lady Elizabeth Grey, Lady Delamer, now at Dunham Massey, which was the subsequent lot in the Enville Hall sale. Lady Elizabeth's married sister, Diana Countess of Ailsbury, was lot 56 in the Enville Hall sale, but portraits of her two other sisters, Anna and Mary, have not been traced.
Lady Anna Grey and Lady Mary her sister were daughters of Henry Grey, 1st Earl of Stamford (c.1599-1673) and his wife Anne, daughter of William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter. From this marriage Grey obtained the manor of Stamford and took his title from there where he was created an Earl in 1628. Enville Hall was lived in by John Grey, his third son, and passed with the title to his son Harry Grey, 3rd Earl of Stamford.

The sale from Enville Hall contained a remarkable group of fourteen portraits by Lely, mainly related to the Grey family, and the price of 1900 guineas for the portrait of Sir George Howard (lot 58) established a new record for the artist.