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| Anonymous artist Hunting Portrait of Henrietta Adelaide of Savoy and her husband Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria ca. 1660 oil on canvas La Venaria Reale, Turin |
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| Jan Steen Beware of Luxury 1663 oil on canvas Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
Since first break of dawn the fiend,
Mere serpent in appearance, forth was come,
And on his quest, where likeliest he might find
The only two of mankind, but in them
The whole included race, his purposed prey.
In bower and field he sought, where any tuft
Of grove or garden-plot more pleasant lay,
Their tendance or plantation for delight,
By fountain or by shady rivulet
He sought them both, but wished his hap might find
Eve separate: he wished, but not with hope
Of what so seldom chanced, when to his wish,
Beyond his hope, Eve separate he spies,
Veiled in a cloud of fragrance, where she stood,
Half spied, so thick the roses bushing round
About her glowed –
– from book 9 of Paradise Lost (1667), by John Milton
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| Abraham Wuchters Portrait of Queen Christina of Sweden 1661 oil on canvas Skokloster Castle, Sweden |
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| Peter Lely Portrait of James II when Duke of York 1661 oil on canvas National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh |
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| Peter Lely Portrait of Sir Ralph Bankes ca. 1660 oil on canvas Yale Center for British Art |
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| Peter Lely Portrait of Prince Rupert of the Rhine ca. 1666-71 oil on canvas Yale Center for British Art |
These, my best Lely, with so bold a spirit
And soft a grace, as if thou didst inherit
For that time all their greatness, and didst draw
With those brave eyes your royal sitters saw.
Not as of old, when a rough hand did speak
A strong aspéct, and a fair face, a weak;
When only a black beard cried 'villain', and
By hieroglyphics we could understand;
When crystal typified in a white spot,
And the bright ruby was but one red blot:
Thou dost the things orientally the same,
Not only paintst its colour, but its flame;
Thou sorrow canst design without a tear,
And, with the man, his very hope and fear,
So that th'amazèd world shall henceforth find
None but my Lely ever drew a mind.
– from To My Worthy Friend Mr. Peter Lely (1649) by Richard Lovelace
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| Peter Lely Portrait of a lady in blue, holding a flower ca. 1660 oil on canvas Dulwich Picture Gallery, London |
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| Peter Lely Portrait of a Lady with a blue drape ca. 1660 oil on canvas Dulwich Picture Gallery, London |
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| Peter Lely Portrait of Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich ca. 1660-65 oil on canvas Yale Center for British Art |
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| Peter Lely Portrait of a man, thought to be George Booth, Lord Delamere ca. 1660 oil on canvas Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide |
Welcome, brave gallant, with those locks so fair.
It is a question who doth own that hair:
The owner, sure, is dead; but when, or how,
Or in what place he died, thou dost not know.
Perhaps he died at Bedlam: then take heed;
Those hairs mad fancies in thy head may breed.
Perchance sad Tyburn was the fatal place,
Where he did end his days for want of grace.
If it be so, they will infect thy brain,
And cause thee to delight in thievish gain.
If from some broken chambermaid they fell,
They'll move to lust, and modest thoughts expel.
Or, if they grew upon a drunken head,
Thou seldom wilt go sober to they bed.
But if they came from some bad statesman's ground,
A machiavellian knave thou mayst be found.
Thus these dead excrements, if thou them use,
Will but bad thoughts and qualities infuse.
Cast off those looser hairs, which every wind
Will fright away, and show thy vainer mind:
God numbers all our hairs; let no man scoff
At that which God doth take such notice of.
Besides, it is a sinful, shameful part,
To slubber nature's work with sluttish art.
– A Periwig by Rowland Watkyns (1662)
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| Rembrandt Portrait of a white-haired man 1667 oil on canvas National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne |
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| Pietro da Cortona Self-portrait before 1669 oil on canvas Musée Fesch, Ajaccio, Corsica |
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| Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo Portrait of Luis del Mazo ca. 1660 oil on canvas Dulwich Picture Gallery, London |
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| Gerrit Dou Young woman at a dressing table with her maid 1667 oil on panel Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam |