a celebrated painter, was the son of a captain in the garrison of Soest, in Westphalia, and was born in that town in 1617. His father, a native of Holland, was originally called Van der Vars; but the nick-name 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 Grebbier, an artist of some note at Haarlem, Lely, induced by the patronage of Charles I. for the fine arts, removed to England in 1641. Here he soon became so eminent in his profession as to be employed by Cromwell to paint his portrait. At the Restoration, his genius and gentlemanly manners won the favour of Charles II., who made him his state-painter, and afterwards knighted him. To improve himself by the study of the most excellent specimens of his art, he made his famous collection, the best of his time, containing drawings, prints, and paintings by the best masters. His great example, however, was Van Dyck, whom, in some of his most successful pieces, he almost rivals. Lely's paintings are carefully and delicately 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. His most famous work is a collection of portraits of the ladies at 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, is worthy of note. Lely was nearly as famous for crayon painting. Towards the close of his life, he often retired to an estate which he had bought at Kew, in Surrey. He died of apoplexy at London in 1680, and was buried at Covent Garden church, where a monument was afterwards erected to his memory.