This pair of half-length portraits by Sir Peter Lely features in Thomaston Place Auction Galleries’ sale in Maine from May 31-June 2 estimated at $10,000-20,000.
The artist and the English couple depicted are identified on a label to the verso from the Fogg Museum at Harvard. The sitters are Robert Nelson II who was admitted to the bar on March 11, 1631, and his wife Mary, daughter of Sir John Temple.
Further records indicate that the paintings were in the possession of Miss Alida Boyland (1833-98) of Boston, as of 1894, as recorded in The Descent of John Nelson and His Children by Temple Prime of Huntington, NY.
The 3ft 6in x 2ft 10in (1.07m x 86cm) portraits, which have been cleaned, relined and retouched, come in carved and gilt frames and are estimated at $10,000-20,000.
