Aphra Behn

by J. Fittler from a drawing by Thomas Unwins
1822

VIctoria and Albert Museum S.241-2015

Text below the image reads:

APHRA BEHN. / From a picture by Mary Beale in the Collection / Of His Grace the Duke of Buckingham

Laura Runge notes that the original painting now in St. Hilda’s College, Oxford, "claims to be of Behn by Mary Beale, but it is neither. There is no documentary evidence to indicate provenance or sitter, unlike for the Lely and Riley portraits (and Kneller and by Closterman)."