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Notes

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A prolific poet, Cowley had a profound impact upon later seventeenth-century poetry. His reputation was short-lived however and had waned by the mid-eighteenth century.Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, his first volume of verse, Poetical Blossoms, was published in 1633 when he was fifteen and included poems written from the age of ten.As a Royalist during the English civil wars he was deprived of his Cambridge fellowship in 1643. He joined King Charles I at Oxford before following Queen Henrietta Maria to France as her secretary. On the Restoration she granted him land. He studied medicine and became an MD in 1657, thereafter living in retirement, studying botany and writing essays.

National Portrait Gallery, London

London

Title

Abraham Cowley

Date

c.1666–1667

Medium

oil on canvas

Measurements

H 121.9 x W 101.6 cm

Accession number

4215

Acquisition method

Purchased, 1961. On long-term loan to Gawthorpe Hall, Lancashire

Work type

Painting

National Portrait Gallery, London

St Martin’s Place, London, Greater London WC2H 0HE England

This venue is open to the public. Not all artworks are on display. If you want to see a particular artwork, please contact the venue.

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Artist or maker

Peter Lely

1618–1680

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