Oliver Cromwell in visual arts in the 17th

and 18th

Centuries

Oliver Cromwell was a political dignitary who rose in very high position after a short

time. It was typical that about this kind of representative of the government was made

art. What kind of art was made about Cromwell, and what kind of pictorial feedback it

gained? Furthermore I study how the visual arts about Cromwell manifested.

Paintings and Graphic, on behalf and against

Oliver Cromwell did not come from such poorness that he was the first on his family to

get his own portrait. There is a portrait depicting his mother, the painter remains un-

known.1 His wife Elizabeth Bourchier was painted as a young woman by Samuel

Cooper. This miniature is not dated but it was probably painted before her marriage to

Oliver at the age of 23. Later on, Samuel Cooper made another miniature about her

when she was middle-aged.2

According to Antonia Fraser, the first portraits of Oliver Cromwell himself were from

1640’s, possibly painted by Robert Walker.3 In 1649 Walker painted Cromwell’s por-

trait where he was depicted as Charles I was on the portraits of Van Dyke, on the glid-

ing black armour, emphasizing the power of the depicted. The staff that Cromwell is

holding emphasizes the military power. The cloth that the page is binding to the waist of

the armour stands for the chief of the army. The painting was probably done to glorify

the commandership of the Irish campaign or the return from it.

1 FRASER 1979, between the pages 28 and 29.

2 Ibid.

3 FRASER 1979, 62.

1. Robert Walker: Oliver Cromwell, ca. 16494

According to Laura Knoppers, Walker uses on this an elegant and natural posture which

is from Anthony van Duke who on his behalf followed Peter Paul Rubens’ style on his

portraits.5 According to Robin Simon, van Dyke was influenced by German painter

Hans Holbein who was influenced by Titian.6 All of these artists emphasized the power

and status of the depicted person on their paintings. On the paintings of Walker the face

of Cromwell is depicted less “repulsive” than later works of Cooper and Lely. A com-

mentary who had remained yet unknown told how the face of Cromwell was such that

he had not to use armour covering his face, his face suited well with the rusty armour.7

4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Oliver_Cromwell_by_Robert_Walker.jpg

5 KNOPPERS 2000, 33-4.

6 SIMON, 1987, 59-60.

7 FRASER 1979, 62-3.

And this was the way Oliver wanted to be portrayed. When Sir Peter Lely was doing a

miniature about Cromwell (the date is unknown), he got instructions from the object

himself:

Mr. Lely I desire you would use all your skills to paint my picture truly like me and not flat-

ter me at all. But remark all these roughness, pimples warts & everything as you see me.

Otherwise I never will pay a farthing for it. 8

And warts there were, all right, on his left eye socket, under his lower lip, and the most

visible, over is left brow. He had a big nose, an easy target for satirical pictures.9

2. Samuel Cooper: Oliver Cromwell, miniature (1657)10

And for the satirical pictures the paintings had their share. The paintings were made for

engravings that were published on the satirical pamphlets.11

When Cromwell dissolved

the parliament in 1653 and begun his new model for a government, it woken up the

thought on e.g. the Fifth Monarchists, how King Oliver had now taken the place of King

Jesus.12

This was a thought that was creating some more satirical engravings.

8 FITZGIBBONS 2008, s. 137 ; FRASER 1973, 472.

9 FRASER 1979, 63.

10 http://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_176463/Samuel-Cooper/Miniature-of-Oliver-Cromwell-

(unfinished) 11

KNOPPERS 2000, 2. 12

KNOPPERS & LANDERS 2004, 100.

3. Unknown: The Crowning of Oliver Cromwell.13

”King” Cromwell, crowned and dressed on er-

mine cloth standing with the sword of justice and globus cruciger on his hands, on the background

is the execution of Charles I. The devil is holding an emblem, which is depicting a dog on the Bish-

op’s mitre, above him.

According to Knoppers, and her co-historian Joan B. Landers, the execution of Charles,

and the Cromwell’s “crusade” against the Catholics made Cromwell reputation as a hero

who was helping the kingdoms of the Christ on earth. This reputation was probably aid-

ed with the praising poems of Andrew Marvell, the one-man propaganda machine of the

Commonwealth. To help this propaganda to be understood by the illiterate, some en-

gravings was published, depicting Cromwell as a military hero, clad in armour.14

13

http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_image.aspx?obje

ctId=3067321&partId=1&searchText=oliver+cromwell+protector&fromADBC=ad&toADBC=ad&orig=

%2Fresearch%2Fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx&numPages=10&currentPage=3&asset_id=352773 14

KNOPPERS & LANDERS 2004, 96.

4. Jan van de Velde IV (Dutch, ca. 1610–1686), Made by the painting of Robert Walker: Oliver

Cromwell (after 1653). This kind of engravings, were the usual Cromwell-iconography, depicting

him as an armor-clad hero.

Sometimes the very fabrication of the heroic iconography was easy: In 1655, engraver

Peter Lombard made an equestrian portrait of Cromwell, only by copying Van Dyck’s

painting, leaving the head of Charles blank, and adding the Oliver’s face instead of it.

Later on, after 1688, this kind of method worked other way round: William Wagstaffe

wrote on his book, Some memoirs of the life of Abel, Toby's uncle (1726), a story he had

heard from one Mr. Loggan:

[…] the noted Engraver comes to him one day, shews him a picture of Oliver Cromwell

mounted on a prauncing horse, with armies and fleed above him, and underneath this inscrip-

tion, viz. His Highness Lord Protector. Says Abel to him, I will be concern’d in working of

the Plate; but you must first race out Oliver’s Head, and engrave that of the Prince of Orange

in it’s room.15

According to Wagstaffe, after such a procedure the engravings sold well. The method of

“head-change” was not unusual because the paintings were done near ready by painting

some “body-frames” with open face area. When the deal of the painting was done with

the customer-model, the face was painted on the unpainted area. In some cases the face

was painted on the different canvas which was later inserted to a “body-frame”. The

elegant portraiture of the 17th

century was nearly industrial.16

15

Wagstaffe 1726, 4. 16

SIMON 1987, 98.

5. William Faithorne: The Embleme of Englands distractions as also of her attained, and further

expected Freedome, & Happines (1658).17

The engravings that lauded Cromwell were yet published in 1658, such as William

Faithorne’s engraving (above) where Cromwell is depicted as an armoured man of

peace between two pillars, where the representatives of three Kingdoms, England, Scot-

land and Wales are crouched on thankful praise. The white pigeon over his laurelled

head symbolizes the peace of Commonwealth.18

Oliver Cromwell died in 1658. It took only two ears to change England back to the

monarchy. The general attitude towards the late Lord Protector turned quickly to nega-

tive, if it had been positive in the first place. The new royalist Parliament wanted the

traitors and the regicides to be punished, albeit they were already dead. Cromwell, Hen-

ry Ireton and John Bradshaw were taken out of their graves to be punished in Tyburn.

The publication that was made about that event, A true and perfect relation of the grand

traytor [sic] execution (1660), included two engravings. The first depicts the reason for

these postmortem executions, the murder of the lawful King Charles I in 1649; the se-

17

http://www.bpi1700.org.uk/research/printOfTheMonth/august2006.html. 18

FRASER 1973, 472 ; SCHAMA 2001, 232.

cond illustrates the decapitations of the main regicides. The engraver has set three cava-

liers behind the scene of the King’s execution, the empty fumetto reflecting their very

speechlessness before the forthcoming atrocity. The army of the Parliament is set be-

hind the spectators to demonstrate the tyranny which was done with the support of the

army. On the other picture the army is set before the spectators, to demonstrate the dif-

ferent kind of task of the (royalist) army, not preventing the people to leave but prevent-

ing them to punish the culprits themselves.19

6. The Execution of Charles I and the Executions of the Regicides in Tyburn. (Source: A

true and perfect relation of the grand traytors execution 1660)

5.2. Medals and Coins Emphasizing the Power

So they searched my pockets, took from me one shilling, the picture of Oliver Cromwell

with an owl on his head, and the letter which the Devil sent to Rump, as was said.20

When Oliver Cromwell first coined his money, an old Cavalier looking upon one of the

new pieces, read this inscription on one side – God with us; on the other, The Com-

monwealth of England. “I see,” said he, “God and the Commonwealth are on different

sides.21

The previous citation and the obvious joke tell a lot about the people’s attitude about the

Commonwealth and Cromwell. The citation tells about the time when the Common-

19

A true and perfect relation of the grand traytors execution 1660, Elektroninen aineisto. 20

Houlbrook 1744, 33. Elektroninen aineisto. 21

L’loyd’s Evening Post, Nr. 6433, 19-21.11.1798. . Elektroninen aineisto.

wealth had minted its own coinage that was used alongside the old royal money. As the

government of the Commonwealth got more loathed, so did its coinage. The joke is

probably from someone’s pen rather than from the mouth of the old cavalier. It might be

something that the monarchist, catholic, Presbyterians or Quakers would write, while

they were making caricatures of Cromwell.

The coins and the medals were one part of the Cromwell iconography. Similarly they

had been part of the royal iconography. One of these Cromwelliana medals is the Dun-

bar Medal that was minted to glorify the victory of the battle of Dunbar in 1650. The

recto depicts Cromwell’s side portrait. Above his head is an inscription: Word at Dun-

bar THE LORD OF HOSTS. The verso depicts the Parliament on its session. According

to Knoppers this medal is an example of the paradox on the Cromwell-iconography, the

more Cromwell opposed the Parliament, the more he was praised.22

In this medal

Cromwell and the Parliament are on different sides, and this came really true in 1653

when he dissolved the unworthy Parliament.

7. The Dunbar Medal23

After the restoration and the coronation of Charles II, it was quite certain that the people

wanted to get rid of this kind of coinage. The lesser they went, the more desired they

came to the collectors. Most likely the Tories and especially the Jacobites didn’t want to

see them, but possibly the Whigs who had, in some of their mansions, few portraits or

busts about Cromwell, had some of them on their collections. In the museum of Lich-

field had, according to the catalog of 1782, set in line, a collection of English coins:

22

KNOPPERS 2000, 57. 23

http://cromwellcoins.com/html/medals.html.

Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, Elizabeth, James (I), Charles I, Oliver

Cromwell, Charles II, James II, etc.24

The arranger of the display Richard Greene (1712

– 1790), the founder of the museum and the collector of curiosities, had set the Lord

Protector on the same line with the monarchs. Thus, for Greene, Cromwell was a proba-

bly a legitimate regent.

5.3. The Life in Lord-Protector’s Court, Not for a common-people

Oliver Cromwell, who as a puritan was denying the people even its modest amuse-

ments, meanwhile he lived rather sumptuously in Whitehall and Hampton Court, the

latter was, on some rooms, decorated with the tapestries of Antonio Mantegna which

depicted the triumphs of Julius Caesar. Oliver’s own bedroom was decorated with the

paintings which all depicted the tales of Vulcan, Mars and Venus. Clearly such art had

existed in those palaces already, although the clear selection on the bedroom tells that

the Protector selected them according to his own taste. He was not himself as a puritan

par excellence. This was the part that was not visible for the commoners, the artwork

that was in the gardens were, and made some criticism. In the garden of one of those

palaces (possibly Hampton Court) had sculptures of e.g. Venus, Cleopatra, Adonis and

Apollo, naturally classically – nude. The puritan subjects of Cromwell were genuinely

concerned, well, at least one: Mrs. Mary Nethaway wrote directly to Cromwell, how her

only wish was to get these “monsters” to be destroyed, and the wrath of God was to

come upon the Protector should this not be done.25

The music, an amusement that according to Fraser, was forbidden for the people and the

pastime to Cromwell that he didn’t attempt to hide. He enjoyed the organ music and had

the organs of Magdalen College to be transferred to the Whitehall, and hired an organist

who on his behalf hired some boys to sing Latin motets for Cromwell’s amusement.26

When Oliver’s daughter Frances’ wedding was celebrated in the Whitehall in 1657, the

violin-orchestra of 48 players provided the music for dancing. If the common people

was living without music (at least in public), it was not entirely suffocated. According

to Brett, in the era of Cromwell, the music was rather encouraged rather than suffocated,

at least on the university. The professorship of the music was founded in Oxford in

24

Licfield museum 1782, 14. Elektroninen aineisto. 25

FRASER 1973, 460.

26

FRASER 1973, 464. CHECK!

1656, and to cite Brett, the sources speak about continuity for any kind of music.27

Jona-

than Fitzgibbons emphasizes the diplomatic role of the court-life.28

Despite of that ob-

vious fact Cromwell was enjoying its pleasures, regardless of what any puritan was say-

ing.

5.4. 18th

century, Cromwell in the collections of the Whigs, collectors and the gal-

leries

The portraits of the Lord-Protector found their places on the walls of the collectors. Af-

ter the Commonwealth such portrait could have been found outside England. In Milan,

on the art-cabinet of Signor Manfredo Septale, had in the 1670s Oliver Cromwell’s por-

trait from unknown artist, alongside Da Vincis and Bronzinos and the portraits of Queen

Christina and Gustav Adolf of Sweden.29

In the 18th

century, books which contained engravings of the famous paintings from the

royal palaces and the private collections were published. These engravings were made

by George Vertue from London,30

Houbraken from Amsterdam and “some masters

from Paris”. The second edition of their book The Heads of most illustrious Persons of

Great Britain (1737) had portraits of the Queen Anne (of James I), the Earl of Dorset,

King James I and Oliver Cromwell. According to the advert, the 3rd

edition was under-

way, thus the existence of Cromwell’s portrait didn’t alter the sales.31

Later on, when

the 7th

edition was published, the Cromwell’s secretary, John Thurlow had his own en-

graved portrait on the pages.32

The art that hung on the walls of the mansions was often reflecting the political attitude

of their owners. E.g. In 1722, in the manor of Mrs. Caesar, Bennington, had boldly

hanging a portrait of Stuart pretender, the son of James II, alongside with the other por-

traits of the members of Stuart family. Clearly, Mrs. Caesar wasn’t hiding her obvious

Jacobitism.33

Another obvious Jacobite collection was found on the boarding school of

Christ’s Hospital on Sussex. The vast dining room was dominated by equally vast paint-

27

BRETT 1961, 434. 28

FITZGIBBONS 2008, 154. 29

Barri 1679, 167. Elektroninen aineisto. 30

1684-1756. Englantilainen kaivertaja, joka kirjoitti teosta History of the Arts of England, saaden tätä

kuitenkaan ikinä valmiiksi. 31

Common Sense or the Englishman’s Journal, Nr 10, 9.4.1737. Elektroninen aineisto. 32

London Evening Post, Nr. 1664, 13-15.7.1738. Elektroninen aineisto. 33

FOORD 1964, 74.

ing of Antonio Verrio (ca. 1635 – 1707), the 26 meter long artwork of James II receiv-

ing the heads and the students of the school. The lecture hall was embellished by the

paintings where Queen Anne was placed on the highest place, surrounded by Charles II,

James II and the representatives of the government of James II. This collection hasn’t

changed until 1900 according to a photograph that was taken on that year. 34

A Peer, Sir Richard Temple (1634 – 97) was a member of the Oliver Cromwell’s 1st

Protectorate Parliament and Richard Cromwell’s 3rd

parliament. Despite of this he was

selected to the Parliament in the era of Charles II. Obviously a wealthy man, he had

built a vast manor of Stowe in Buckinghamshire in the 1670s. Naturally the manor was

soon embellished with abundant collection of paintings. Sometime during the 18th

cen-

tury the collection had it’s Cromwell because at the end of the century, on the billiards

room of the manor had, on the era of George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 54 portraits,

including Luther, Anne Boleyn, Oliver Cromwell and Jonathan Swift.35

The latter sub-

ject of the portrait was a writer who had changed from Whigs to Tories and was despite

of that kept on the portraits of the Manor. According to a contemporary source the man-

or had on the 1750s, on a bed chamber, alongside Primaticcio and other paintings, a

portrait of Cromwell. 36

On that mentioned time the owner of the manor was Richard

Temple, Viscount of Cobham who had fought on the side of William and Anne, and

was defender of the Glorious Revolution, being, according to Schama “the grandest

Whig in the Army”. In the 1730’s the reputation of Cromwell had a powerful revival, he

was considered as a creator of the British Empire. 37

Cobham, a man who was benefitted

of that Empire seemed really respect that particular creator.

But was it a political trend to have Cromwell on the walls? It might have been a trend

all right, but not necessary a political. To the Hatfield House on Hertfordshire and to

Audley End on Essex was bought copies of the 18th

century portraits to be set as decora-

tive themes. 38

The nobility’s interest of art was in some circumstances more historical

than political.

The sources mention sporadically where the portraits of Cromwell were displayed: A

book that describes Oxford at the end of 1740s is mentioned a portrait that was found on

the staircase leading to the Ashmolean museum, between the portrait of Charles I and a

34

POINTON 1993, 32-3. 35

POINTON 1993, 21. 36

A description of the inside of the most magnificent house of the Right Honourable the Earl Temple…

1750(?), 11. Elektroninen aineisto. 37

SCHAMA 2001, 398. 38

POINTON 1993, 25.

painting depicting Atlas and Hercules. 39

The listing mentions a drawing from the pos-

session of late Engraver George Vertue, with both Charles I and Cromwell on the

horseback. 40

Horace Walpole (1717-97), the Earl of Oxford mentions on he’s catalog of

the Engravers an engraving from William Lodge which depicts Oliver Cromwell with a

Paige, and the large engraving, that was on his possession, from William Faithorne,

depicting Cromwell on his armour, some mottoes around him.41

On the grand hall of the

Spring-Garden in Charing-Cross had in 1769 an exhibition of the art-society, where Mr.

Woollet had given among other artworks, a drawing about Oliver Cromwell. 42

So the “Cromwells” were exhibited, and seemingly without any loath. But loath there

was, and some horror: In the Oliver’s Alma mater, Sidney Sussex College, had a bust of

Cromwell. The King of Denmark Christian VII (1766-1808) was visiting the college

and was duly presented with this bust. He said only: il fait me peur (I feel horror).43

Horace Walpole was a Whig, such as was his father Robert, who was one of the most

important and affluence man of the beginning of the 18th

century, Horace was an art

collector and a connoisseur, being mostly interested about engravings, compiling thor-

ough catalogues of them. He mentions on his own catalog about the collection of (his)

Strawberry Hill manor, how he had on his possession a satirical silver-medal, where on

the verso-side is Cromwell on his armour, and on the recto-side, Cromwell is crouching

on the lap of Britannia (impersonated), on the background the ambassadors of France

and Spain are arguing who can kill him first. If we look at the medal on picture 8, the

features of the person on the Britannia’s lap are however African. If this is the same

medal Walpole’s comment is quite peculiar, or there was another medal. Walpole had

one of the Boid’s (Boyd?) portraits of Cromwell.44

So he had no such a loath towards

Cromwell.

39

Pointer, 1749, 161. Elektroninen aineisto. 40

Ford 1757, 4. Elektroninen aineisto. ECCO. 41

Walpole 1765, 61, 69.. Elektroninen aineisto. ECCO. Ks. Kuva 6. 42

Society of Artists of Great Britain 1769, 22. Elektroninen aineisto. ECCO 43

Turner, Baptist Noel 1783, 41. 44

Walpole 1784, 39, 59. Elektroninen aineisto. ECCO.

8. The Medal that Walpole mentioned, or one made after that. The features of the man on the lap of

the Britannia are clearly African, thus not Cromwell’s. The maker of the medal or the year is not

known.45

In some incidents the portraits of the Cromwell were indeed hanging on the walls of the

Whig-minded people: In the long room of Hagley Hall on Worchester had in 1780

paintings of Oliver Cromwell and Lord of Manmouth, alongside the paintings of Van

Dyke, Sir Lely and Zuccaro.46

Remembering how the Manmouth was attempted to take

crown after Charles II by Whig power and lost his head on the process,47

these both

portraits of Cromwell and Manmouth can be seen as a bold statement. However, the

mere historical value might have been the reason for keeping Cromwell on the wall: On

Sir Thomas Heatcote’s Hursley on Hampshire had, according to The Southampton

Guide, a portrait of Cromwell. Oliver had lived nearby the manor.48

In our days, if a

famous person had lived on or nearby a certain place, you might find a portrait of him

or her e.g. on a local library.

On the later 18th

century the portraits, especially very famous ones, gained some value.

A painter Sir Joshua Reynolds got on his possession a very famous miniature of Cow-

per’s (Cooper’s) about Cromwell. 49

This certain artwork was so demanded that it was

sold on auction of Christie’s in 1795. According to Morning Post, this was the only por-

trait where Cromwell had sat as a model himself.50

The writer had probably no

45

http://cromwellcoins.com/html/medals.html 46

Sullivan 1780, 131. Elektroninen aineisto. ECCO. 47

Kiiskinen 2012, passim. 48

The southampton guide 1781, s.63. Elektroninen aineisto. ECCO. 49

Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser, Nr. 4811, 16.10.1784. Elektroninen aineisto. Burney Col-

lection. 50

Morning Post and Fashionable World, Nr. 7255, 2.5.1795. Elektroninen aineisto.

knowledge about the Lely’s famous miniature, “with warts and all”, or he considered it

as a mere legend.

Castle Howard, for most of us famous of its famous role as a stage for movies and tele-

vision series, such as Brideshead Revisited, had a massive collection of artworks in 18th

century (still has). The fifth Earl of Carlslile, Frederick Howard had on a room of this

massive manor, one of the Samuel Cooper’s portraits of Cromwell, hanging beside

Rembrandt, Da Vinci, Van Dyke and Veronese.51

If this was the one that was sold on

Christie’s in 1795, it had really travelled on hand to hand, very much wanted.

Over a hundred years later, the satirical engravings were still used as a political imple-

ment. On James Sayer’s The Mirror of Patriotism (1784) Charles James Fox is gazing

to a mirror and sees Oliver Cromwell as his reflecting image.

9. James Sayers: The Mirror of Patriotism (1784)52

51

A new display of the beauties of England 1787, 423. 52

http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw43276/The-mirror-of-patriotism-Charles-James-

Fox-Oliver-Cromwell-in-mirror

On the same year, another work from unknown engraver, also parodies Fox. A witch

and Fox are horrified the harnessed Cromwell, emerging from the mist.

10. The Ghost of Oliver Cromwell (1784)

On both engravings Cromwell is harnessed such as on the works of the mid 17th

centu-

ry. This time the harness does not represent the power of its user, it is rather indicating

the power usurped. On the first engraving the image of Cromwell can be seen as an al-

ter ego for Fox. The second engraving the admiration that Fox felt towards Cromwell

backfires when Fox sees that Cromwell is more abhorrent that he had wished when he

summoned him with the help of the witch. This engraving can be seen as a warning to

the radical Whigs: “You don’t know what you are wishing for; the revolution creates

only tyrants”.

The revolution of the France and the hope of the revolution of their own, and the

memory of the British model of Republic made portraits of Cromwell so desirable that

the owners didn’t gave the up, even with the large sums of money: The Aberdeen Mag-

azine’s literary chronicle in 1790 had a letter-to-editor from unknown writer, who

claims how he once had seen a miniature of famous Oliver Cromwell. The Empress of

Russia herself had offered 500 guineas for that piece. The owner had declined.

… The moment the picture was presented me, methought I beheld Oliver’s furious thought

intelligent countenance, that heroic turbulence of foul which threw kingdoms into agitation

and scattered thick clouds of darkness over our political hemisphere! 53

Some wanted to change their collections to money: According to True Briton, Lady

Anne Connolly had in 1797 on her apartment “one of the fanciest paintings of Van-

dyke”, that is the portrait of Thomas Wentworth with his family, and the portrait of

Thomas Strafford, and Walker’s painting of Cromwell. These and the numeral artworks

of the apartment were announced to be sold on the auction of Mr. Christie.54

It would be

interesting to know how the war against the France and the revealed horrors of the revo-

lution changed the interest to own a portrait of Cromwell. On Lady Anne’s sale, the

reason is however, the obvious need for money.

5.5. Cromwell on the sculptures and on decoration

The busts of Cromwell were very popular on the 18th

century England and were often

made by famous sculptors. A French sculptor Louis-François Roubiliac made several of

them, and often pigmented.55

From these busts one may notice the warps that Cromwell

desired to see on the work of Lely. The harness and the cloth are the same symbolized

attributes that can be seen from the works of Walker and other lauding works from the

time of Cromwell’s lifetime.

53

The aberdeen magazine, literary chronicle, and review; for The Year MDCCLXXXVIII. Vol 3. 622.

Elektroninen aineisto. 54

True Briton, Nr. 1393, 12.6.1797. Elektroninen aineisto. 55

DAWSON 1999, 77.

11. Louis-François Roubiliac: Oliver Cromwell (1759), terracotta, 60cm.56

The custom was that after a person died, a death mask was made. Duly that was taken

from Cromwell when he died in 1658 and from that some copies. According to the cata-

log of the Great-Britain’s Art Society, Mr. Holm from the Princess Street had on his

possession a bust of Cromwell that was made according to the death mask. Mr. Wil-

ton,57

a Royal sculptor had made a copy (ditto) from the death mask that was on Flor-

ence. 58

The many of the works were found from abroad.

These busts and other sculptures and casts were made for abroad and in abroad. In 1765,

according the L’loyd’s Evening Post, a bust of Cromwell was made in Prussia from

marble by the order of the King.59

The King, Frederick II (the great) had obvious inter-

est about Cromwell because on London’s Charing-Cross were entire statue under work

to be shipped to Frederick. This was based on the death-mask.60

In the end of the 18th

century oliver was obviously a demanded subject to decorate

houses. Josiah Wedgewood, the Royal ceramists of the King George III, whose produc-

tion was very famous about his high-quality products, published catalogs from the pro-

ductions of his factory. A catalog of 1878 included images of Oliver Cromwell. These

56

www.britishmuseum.org. 57

Joseph Wilton (1722 – 1803), a sculptor who created the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768. 58

Society of Artists of Great Britain 1766, 15-6. Elektroninen aineisto. ECCO. 59

L’loyd’s Evening Post, Nr. 1260, 5-7.8.1765, Elektroninen aineisto. Burney Collection. 60

St. James's Chronicle or the British Evening Post, Nr. 694, 13-15.8.1765. Elektroninen aineisto.

belong to the series of famous persons that were made on amethysts, tablets, reliefs,

medals and plaster heads. 61

12. Medallion of Oliver Cromwell. Factory of Wedgewood (1780-85)62

_________________

From the very beginning Cromwell was depicted as monarchs and the men of high val-

ue, his prestige on the portraits was similar to Charles II. On his hay-days of power

Cromwell, who had now his say about the portraiture, begun demanding less pompous

and glorious outlook of the portraits. This however might have been mere propaganda,

because the pompous images had easily been modified for satirical engravings by those

who opposed him.

By the 18th

century, the art that portrayed Cromwell had become a show-piece of the

galleries and the private collections. The collectors who purchased these portraits,

61

Wedgwood, 1787, 20-1, 27, 51. 62

The Fitzewilliam museum, www.fitzmuseum.cam

death-masks, engravings or busts, were either collectors without political interest or

Whigs, whose ideals Cromwell suited well.