Peter Lely

Diana Kirke, later Countess of Oxford
c. 1665
52 x 41 in. (132.1 x 104.1 cm)

Diana Kirke (d. 1707) was the daughter of George Kirke, Groom of the Bedchamber to Charles II and Keeper of Whitehall Palace. Sometime in the early 1660s, she began a liaison with Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford, and they finally married in April 1673. At once provocative and mysterious, she stands here not as wife but as beguiling mistress. It is likely that her lover commissioned the portrait for his private apartments, where it would be seen and admired only by his inner circle of friends.