Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, 1st Bt
4 of 13 portraits of Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, 1st Bt
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, 1st Bt
by Thomas Cross, after Cornelius Johnson (Cornelius Janssen van Ceulen)
line engraving, published 1655
5 3/8 in. x 3 5/8 in. (137 mm x 93 mm) plate size; 6 1/2 in. x 4 3/8 in. (166 mm x 110 mm) paper size
Purchased with help from the Friends of the National Libraries and the Pilgrim Trust, 1966
Reference Collection
NPG D33597
Sitterback to top
- Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, 1st Bt (1571-1631), Antiquary. Sitter associated with 13 portraits.
Artistsback to top
- Thomas Cross (active 1644-1682), Engraver. Artist or producer associated with 168 portraits.
- Cornelius Johnson (Cornelius Janssen van Ceulen) (1593-1661), Portrait painter. Artist or producer associated with 148 portraits, Sitter associated with 3 portraits.
Related worksback to top
- NPG D28023: Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, 1st Bt (from same plate)
- NPG D33596: Sir Robert Bruce Cotton, 1st Bt (from same plate)
Events of 1655back to top
Current affairs
Secretary of State, John Thurloe, implements a highly efficient intelligence service and thwarts plans for a series of royalist uprisings which produced only Penruddock's revolt.Following ineffectual royalist riots, Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, appoints nineteen Major-generals to manage regional government and prevent future challenges to the protectorate.
Art and science
Publication of the controversial work De corpore, by philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, prompts mathematician, John Wallis to scornfully refute the work in Elenchus geometriae Hobbianae, starting a bitter, long-running polemical dispute between the two men.International
General Robert Venables and Admiral William Penn lead an expedition to the Caribbean to threaten Spanish trade routes and weaken Catholic influence in the New World. An integral part of Cromwell's foreign policy to curb Spanish power, the campaign, Cromwell's 'western design', fails leading to war in Europe.Comments back to top
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