The Picture Gallery remains very much as it was created by Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland (1641-1702). Educated at Oxford, he travelled extensively on the 'Grand Tour' in France, Italy and Spain and afterwards followed an active diplomatic career with appointments to Madrid (1671), Paris (1672), Cologne (1673), The Hague (1678). With both discernment and the opportunity for acquiring pictures on the continent, he was the first member of the Spencer family to collect paintings. Many of the fine scalloped frames in the gallery which he had made in either Italy or Spain, particularly those round the Lely portraits, are known as 'Sunderlands'. The Picture Gallery is based on the original Elizabethan gallery in the South-West wing of the house. It is 115 feet long, 20 feet wide and 19 feet high. On entering, to the left are a series of portraits of the beauties of Charles II's court painted and signed by Sir Peter Lely. At the south end and focal point of the gallery, is Van Dyck's (1599-1641) famous whole-length double portrait (c.1637) known as War and Peace, representing the brothers-in-law George Digby, Second Earl of Bristol, and William Russell, First Duke of Bedford. Standing side by side, Lord Digby on the left is dressed in black silk and at his feet are papers, books and an armillary sphere indicating his scholarly interests. Lord Russell on the right is dressed in strong red with gold-embroidered jacket, with helmet and breast-plate at his feet suggesting a more extrovert character. On the outbreak of the Civil War (1642-51) both fought on opposing sides, Lord Digby for the Royalists and Lord Russell for the Parliamentarians.