Portrait of a gentleman, traditionally identified as Andrew Marvell, bust-length, in a black slashed doublet

This portrait has traditionally be identified as of the celebrated poet and politician Andrew Marvell (1621-1678) and bears an identifying inscription to this effect. However, the traditional identification seems unlikely on the basis of comparison with other known portraits of the poet (for a discussion of which see D. Piper, Catalogue of Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery, 1625-1714, Cambridge, 1963, pp. 221-2).

This portrait was possibly acquired by Edward George Earle Bulmer-Lytton (1803-1873), 1st Baron Lytton, the novelist, who was particularly interested in literary portraits.