LELY, Sir Peter (1617-1680), a celebrated painter, was born at Soest, Westphalia, in 1617. His father, a military captain and a native of Holland, was originally called Van der Vaes; the nickname of Le Lys or Lely, by which he was generally known, was adopted by his son as a proper surname. After studying for two years under Peter de Grebber, an artist of some note at Haarlem, Lely, induced by the patronage of Charles I. for the fine arts, removed to England in 1641. There he at first painted historical subjects and landscape; and he soon became so eminent in his profession as to be employed by Charles to paint his portrait shortly after the death of Vandyck. He afterwards portrayed Cromwell. At the Restoration his genius and gentlemanly manners won the favour of Charles 11., who made him his state-painter, and afterwards knighted him. He formed a famous collection, the best of his time, containing drawings, prints, and paintings by the best masters; it sold by auction forno less than .£26,000. His great example, however, was Vandyck, whom, in some of his most successful pieces, he almost rivals. Lely’s paintings are carefully finished, warm and clear in colouring, and animated in design. The graceful posture of the heads, the delicate rounding of the hands, and the broad folds of the draperies are admired in many of his portraits. The eyes of the ladies are drowsy with languid sentiment, and allegory of a commonplace sort is too freely introduced. His most famous work is a collection of portraits of the ladies of the court of Charles II., preserved at Hampton Court, and known by the title of the Windsor Beauties. Of his few historical pictures, the best is Susannah and the Elders, at Burleigh House. His Jupiter and Europa, in the duke of Devonshire’s collection, ...