Lady Essex (Rich) Finch, later Countess of Nottingham

Lady Essex is dressed informally in a loose-fitting white garment, without a corset. The body-revealing effect of the fabrics specifically references the treatment of drapery in Greek sculpture and Italian Renaissance art. Although she wears a costume used by Lely in his studio, similar garments would have been worn in front of others by women like Lady Essex as a way of showing their elite status at court. In the sensual undress of his female sitters, Lely follows a trend started by van Dyck, an artist whose work he collected.