LELEWEL, JOACHIM ( 1786-1861), Polish historian, geog rapher and numismatist, born at Warsaw on March 22, 1786. was educated at the university of Vilna, and became in 1807 a teacher in a school at Krzemieniec in Volhynia, in 1814 teacher of history at Vilna, and in 1818 professor and librarian at the university of Warsaw. He returned to Vilna in 1821. His popular ity with the students made him obnoxious to the Russian govern ment, and at Vilna Novosiltsev was then all-powerful. Lelewel was removed from his professorship in 1824, and returned to Warsaw, where he was elected a deputy to the diet in 1829 and joined the revolutionary movement. On the suppression of the rebellion he escaped to Germany, and went on to Paris in 1831. The government of Louis Philippe, at the request of the Russian ambassador, ordered him to quit French territory in 1833. He went to Brussels, where for nearly thirty years he earned a scanty livelihood by his writings. He died on May 29, 1861, in Paris.
Lelewel, a man of austere character, simple tastes and the loftiest conception of honour, was a lover of learning for its own sake. His literary activity was enormous, extending from his Edda Skandinawska (1807) to his Geographie des Arabes (2 vols., Paris, 1851). One of his most important publications was La Geographie du moyen age (5 vols., Brussels, 1852-1857), with an atlas (1849) of fifty plates entirely engraved by himself. His works on Polish history are based on minute and critical study of the documents; they were collected under the title Polska, dzieje i rzeczy jej rozpatrzywane (Poland, her History and Affairs surveyed), in 20 vols. (Posen, 1853-1876).
LELY, SIR PETER (1618-168o), English painter, was born at Soest, Westphalia. His father, a military captain, was called van der Faes; the nickname of Lely, by which he was generally known, was adopted by his son as a surname. After studying under Peter de Grebber at Haarlem, Lely removed to England in 1641. There he at first painted historical subjects and landscape; he soon became so eminent in his profession as to be employed by Charles to paint his portrait shortly after the death of Van dyck. He afterwards portrayed Cromwell. At the Restoration he won the favour of Charles II., who made him his state-painter, and knighted him. He formed a famous collection, containing drawings, prints and paintings by the best masters. His great example was Vandyck. Lely's paintings are carefully finished, warm and clear in colouring, and animated in design. The graceful posture of the heads, the delicate rounding of the hands, and the broad folds of the draperies are admired in many of his por traits. The eyes of the ladies are drowsy with languid sentiment, and allegory of a commonplace sort is too freely introduced.
His most famous work is a collection of portraits of the ladies of the court of Charles II., known as "the Beauties," formerly at Windsor castle, and now at Hampton Court palace. Of his few historical pictures, the best is "Susannah and the Elders," at Burleigh house. He died in London, and was buried in Covent Garden church, where a monument was erected to his memory. Pepys characterized Lely as "a mighty proud man and full of state." His only disciples were J. Greenhill and J. Buckshorn.