Oliver Cromwell

1 portrait by Pierre Lombart

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Oliver Cromwell

by Pierre Lombart, after Sir Anthony van Dyck
line engraving, after 1655
21 7/8 in. x 14 1/8 in. (556 mm x 359 mm) paper size
Purchased, 1958
Reference Collection
NPG D34326

Sitterback to top

  • Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), Lord Protector of England. Sitter associated with 224 portraits.

Artistsback to top

  • Pierre Lombart (1612 or 1613-1682), Engraver. Artist or producer associated with 132 portraits, Sitter in 4 portraits.
  • Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641), Painter. Artist or producer associated with 1023 portraits, Sitter associated with 30 portraits.

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.

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