2 OF 14 
Edward Oldcorne; Nicholas Owen
2 of 14 portraits by Gaspar Bouttats
© National Portrait Gallery, London
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Edward Oldcorne; Nicholas Owen
by Gaspar Bouttats
line engraving, mid 17th century
Purchased with help from the Friends of the National Libraries and the Pilgrim Trust, 1966
Reference Collection
NPG D17092
Sittersback to top
- Edward Oldcorne (1561-1606), Jesuit. Sitter in 4 portraits.
- Nicholas Owen (died 1606), Carpenter and Jesuit lay brother. Sitter in 1 portrait.
Artistback to top
- Gaspar Bouttats (1625-1695), Printmaker. Artist or producer associated with 14 portraits.
Events of 1630back to top
Current affairs
Charles I's first surviving child, Charles, is born in St. James's Palace. He is baptised by the Anglican Bishop of London, William Laud, and brought up in the care of the Protestant Mary Curzon, Countess of Dorset.Art and science
The Cottonian Library, containing the greatest resource of Old English and Middle English literature, founded by antiquary and anti-royalist, Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, is confiscated by the authorities.International
Philip IV of Spain and Charles I sign the Treaty of Madrid, ending hostilities between the two countries. Spanish diplomat, Cesare Alessandro Scaglia, assists with the conclusion of the peace deal.German, Protestant land is regained from Catholic allies on account of Swedish intervention in the Thirty Years' War.
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Bill
27 January 2018, 19:27
The engraving depicts events that took place during the last week of February 1606.
During the persecutions following the Gunpowder Plot Edward Oldcorne was captured at Hindlip Hall in Worcestershire on 27 January 1606, taken to London and racked. His trial for treason took place at Worcester, where he was executed on 7 April 1606 on Red Hill.
Nicholas Owen was a joiner, and his carpentry skills were put to use in building priest holes or hiding places in the houses of Catholics all over the country. Four days before Fr Edward Oldcorne was discovered hiding in the same house Owen gave himself up voluntarily in hope of distracting attention from the others hiding there.
After being committed to the Marshalsea, a prison on the southern bank of the Thames, Owen was then removed to the Tower of London. He was submitted to terrible "examinations" on the Topcliffe rack, dangling from a wall with both wrists held fast in iron gauntlets and his body hanging. As his hernia allowed his intestines to bulge out during this procedure, the rackmaster strapped a circular plate of iron to his stomach. When he remained stubborn, it is believed that he was transferred to the rack, where the greater power of the windlass forced out his hernia which was then slashed by the plate, resulting in his death in the night of 1st March 1606. Owen revealed nothing to his inquisitors.