Portrait of a young woman (either Barbara Villiers or Nell Gwyn) and child, as Venus and Cupid, Peter Lely

Sir peter lely portrait of a young woman and child, as venus and cupid <quote> provenance: possibly king charles ii (1630-1685); possibly king james ii (1633-1701); possibly taken from whitehall by his son-in-law, john sheffield, 1st duke of buckingham and normanby (1647-1721), husband of katherine darnley, king james ii's natural daughter by catherine sedley, and recorded at buckingham house, middlesex, by g. Vertue in an inventory of 1746; presumably either sold by the duke's natural son, sir john sheffield, 1st bt. (c. 1706-1774), on the sale of buckingham house to king george iii, or removed to normanby hall or another residence; possibly purchased by william lowther, 2nd earl of lonsdale (1787-1872), and by descent to george henry, 4th earl of lonsdale (1855-1882), by 1879; lowther castle sale; lowther castle, wyatt, 30 april 1947, as a portrait of nell gywn; g. Houghton-brown; his sale, london, sotheby's, 8 february 1950, lot 76, as a portrait of barbara villiers, duchess of cleveland (when purchased by denys bower); the sale of the trustees of the denys eyre bower bequest, removed from chiddingstone castle in kent, london, christie's, 5th july 2007, lot 57 (bt. For £1,588,000 by the present owner)[1] </quote>. Object Type: painting. Genre: portrait. Date: 17th century. Dimensions: height: 123.8 cm (48.7 in) ; width: 156.8 cm (61.7 in). Medium: oil on canvas. Collection: Private collection. Peter Lely - Portrait of a young woman and child, as Venus and Cupid