Born in The Hague and trained in Haarlem, Peter Lely (1618–1680) followed in the footsteps of his Flemish predecessor Antony van Dyck (1599–1641), moving to London and becoming one of the most important artists in Stuart England. Although his earliest works suggest that he aspired to be a history painter, Lely made his career in the far more lucrative field of society portraiture.(1) Throughout the years of the Commonwealth, he maintained ties with both Royalist and Parliamentarian families, a strategy that resulted in enormous success after the Restoration.

The demand for Lely’s portraits dictated the employment of a large number of studio assistants, which in turn required the artist to use drawings as an important part of his working methods: detailed drawings allowed him to pass on to apprentices and assistants the painting of drapery or backgrounds. Lely’s drawings are among his most widely admired works today. Many, like the Two Clerics exhibited here, are black or red chalk drawings executed on blue paper and heightened with white chalk, a painterly technique that would have served well in preparatory sketches.(2)

The Crocker drawing is part of a now-disassembled series that forms one of Lely’s most famous works, the Procession of the Order of the Garter.(3) This procession, held on the Feast of Saint George, had been discontinued during the Civil War (1641–1651) but was revived under Charles II, when the chivalric order assumed a new political significance and provided an important link with the past. The dates of the drawings and of the procession they depict are unknown, though the identity of the participants points to a date between 1663 and 1671.(4) Although it has been suggested that the drawings were done from life, the level of detail and the lack of pentimenti makes this seem unlikely. However, the coherence of the series and the liveliness of the participants, who in many of the drawings gesture or speak to one another or to spectators leaves the viewer with the impression that Lely witnessed the procession. Perhaps he made quick sketches on the scene and then brought the sitters to his studio for these more finished drawings.

Like their date, the purpose of this cycle of drawings remains unknown. They may have been preparatory in nature: Charles I planned an elaborate cycle of tapestries for Whitehall illustrating the history of the Order of the Garter, including a scene of the Saint George procession, and it is possible that his son intended to emulate him with a similar decorative scheme.(5) Furthermore, several of the Garter drawings in the British Museum are counterproofs, suggesting that Lely had in mind a composition that dictated the directions of the figures’ poses. Whether or not the drawings were intended as works of art in their own right, the Crocker sketch demonstrates Lely’s dazzling abilities as a draughtsman. His coloristic use of black and white chalk captures the shimmer of silk or satin as persuasively as his use of oil paint did in his portraits, an effect enhanced by his use of moistened or oiled black chalk to achieve the darkest shadows. The flickering lights and darks, carefully individualized portraits, and virtuoso technique combine to make the Garter series one of the most impressive examples of draughtsmanship in Britain in the seventeenth century.