Elizabeth Creed

Elizabeth Creed (née Pickering; 1642–1728) was a daughter of Sir Gilbert Pickering, Bart., cousin to the poet John Dryden, and a second cousin to Samuel Pepys. She married a gentleman named Creed, of Oundle in Northamptonshire, and, on his death occupied herself in painting as an amateur, and gratuitously instructing young girls in fine needlework and other feminine arts. Many churches in the neighbourhood of Oundle were decorated with altarpieces and various artistic adornments from her industrious and pious hands. After another cousin, Edward Dryden, inherited the estate of Canons Ashby in 1708, she was tasked with the painting of what was then called the Painted Parlour as well as a piece for the Great Hall and a set of dummy boards. At Drayton, in the collection of the Earls of Peterborough, was a portrait of the first Earl of Sandwich; and Mrs. Creed's descendants possessed many portraits and some pictures by her. She died May, 1728.