Oliver Cromwell

1 portrait of Oliver Cromwell

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Oliver Cromwell

by Unknown artist
plaster cast of death-mask, possibly late 17th century
14 5/8 in. x 7 7/8 in. (370 mm x 200 mm) overall
Given by Frankland family, 1957
Primary Collection
NPG 4025

On display in Room 32 on Floor 1 at the National Portrait Gallery

Sitterback to top

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

Artistback to top

  • Unknown artist, Artist. Artist or producer associated with 6578 portraits.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Cooper, John, Great Britons: The Great Debate, 2002, p. 63 Read entry

    The existence of so many death masks is one measure of the spell cast by Cromwell's reputation. One of the most authentic, probably made some ten to fourteen days after his death, is held by the Ashmolean Museum; the one illustrated was cast from it. Experts tell us that the excess of facial hair can partly be accounted for by posthumous growth.

  • Cooper, John, Oliver the First: Contemporary Images of Oliver Cromwell, 1999, p. 20
  • Piper, David, Catalogue of Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery, 1625-1714, 1963, p. 94
  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 156

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1670back to top

Current affairs

Charles II mistress, Barbara Villiers, is created Duchess of Cleveland and granted Nonsuch Palace including its sizeable grounds.
Actress and royal mistress, Nell Gwyn, gives birth to Charles II's son, Charles, who would later become, Duke of St. Albans.

Art and science

Tragicomedy, The Forc'd Marriage, by Aphra Behn, staged by the Duke's Company, starts Behn's career as a professional writer. The writer may have been a royalist spy towards the end of the interregnum.
Poet laureate, John Dryden, is made historiographer royal, a post he would hold for nearly 20 years.

International

Terms of a secret treaty between Charles II and Louis XIV are brought by Henrietta, Duchess of Orleans during a visit to Dover; upon England supplying the majority of military power for a war against Holland and Charles's official conversion to Catholicism, France would assist financially.

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