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A Knight of the Order of the Garter

1663–71
Not on view
This drawing by Lely, a painter trained in Holland who became a naturalized Englishman, represents a young knight pausing to bow during the great annual ceremonial procession that celebrates the Order of the Garter at Windsor. The work comes from a group considered among the most important Baroque drawings produced in England. Conveying the glamor of Charles II’s restoration court, the image survives as a haunting record of an ambitious, but unrealized, decorative scheme, most likely for a set of tapestries. Delicately applied chalks and pastel blend Lely’s native Dutch naturalism with the elegantly expressive line he admired in Sir Antony Van Dyck, to produce a style that established figure drawing in Britain.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: A Knight of the Order of the Garter
  • Artist: Sir Peter Lely (Pieter van der Faes) (British, Soest 1618–1680 London)
  • Date: 1663–71
  • Medium: Black and white chalk, gray pastel, on blue-gray paper
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 17 3/8 × 13 1/8 in. (44.1 × 33.4 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Walter and Leonore Annenberg Acquisitions Endowment Fund and Charles and Jessie Price and PECO Foundation Gifts, 2014
  • Object Number: 2014.43
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Study of the Forearms and Hands of a Woman, Sir Peter Lely (Pieter van der Faes) Dutch, British, Black chalk with touches of red, heightened with white, on buff paper.
Study of the Forearms and Hands of a Woman
Sir Peter Lely (Pieter van der Faes)
ca. 1665
Lucy Loftus (incorrectly called Jenny Deering)
Multiple artists/makers
1757
Mary Capel (1630–1715), Later Duchess of Beaufort, and Her Sister Elizabeth (1633–1678), Countess of Carnarvon, Sir Peter Lely (Pieter van der Faes) Dutch, British, Oil on canvas
Mary Capel (1630–1715), Later Duchess of Beaufort, and Her Sister Elizabeth (1633–1678), Countess of Carnarvon
Sir Peter Lely (Pieter van der Faes)
Study for a Portrait of a Woman, Sir Peter Lely (Pieter van der Faes) Dutch, British, Oil on canvas
Study for a Portrait of a Woman
Sir Peter Lely (Pieter van der Faes)
1670s
Sir Henry Capel (1638–1696), Sir Peter Lely (Pieter van der Faes) Dutch, British, Oil on canvas
Sir Henry Capel (1638–1696)
Sir Peter Lely (Pieter van der Faes)

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