Flagmen of Lowestoft: Admiral Sir George Ayscue (active 1646-1671), 1665-66 (oil on canvas)

Creator: Sir Peter Lely Ayscue fought for Parliament during the Civil War and against the Dutch in 1652. He then went into Swedish service but returned to England after the Restoration of Charles II. At Lowestoft in 1665, he was Rear-Admiral of the Blue, commanding in the rear division. In 1666 he surrendered the 'Royal Prince', 92 guns, to the Dutch when she ran aground on the Galloper shoal at the Four Days' Fight and he was thus the only English flag officer ever to be captured in the Dutch wars, or subsequently. The painting is inscribed 'Sir George Ayscue'. It is one of the 'flagmen' portraits commissioned by the Duke of York after the Battle of Lowestoft, the first major action of the Second Dutch War, in which the Duke commanded the fleet.