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“The Duchess of York wished to have the portraits of the most beautiful women at Court,” Anthony Hamilton wrote in the Memoirs of Count Grammont. “Lely painted them, and employed all his art in the execution. He could not have had more alluring sitters. Every portrait is a masterpiece.” The original set of “Beauties” painted by Lely were, as we find from James II's catalogue, eleven in number, their names being Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland (ne'e Villiers); Frances, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox (ne'e Stuart); Mrs. Jane Myddleton (ne'e Needham); Elizabeth, Countess of Northumberland (ne'e Wriothesley); Elizabeth, Countess of Falmouth (ne'e Bagot); Elizabeth, Lady Denham (ne'e Brooke); Frances, Lady Whitmore (ne'e Brooke); Henrietta, Countess of Rochester (ne'e Boyle); Elizabeth, Countess de Grammont (ne'e Hamilton); and Madame d'Orleans. It will be seen that in this list of “Beauties” Anne Hyde, Duchess of York, does not figure; but since she was responsible for the collection, it would be peculiarly ungracious to omit her from a volume that treats of it. Also, she deserves inclusion for her supreme courage in selecting the sitters--for what must the ladies who were not chosen hav

Author
Lewis Melville
Language
EN

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