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Ghost Portrait of Cromwell, Workshop of Robert Walker
Ref: 5308
Workshop of Robert Walker, with later additions.
Oil on canvas
H: 56cm (22.0in)
W: 46cm (18.1in)
D: 4cm (1.6in)
A scholarly appraisal by art historian, Adam Busiakiewicz:
This curious portrait is a historic and aesthetic document that captures one of the most dramatic shifts in the History of England. Lurking underneath the overpaint is a seventeenth century portrait of Oliver Cromwell. Champion of the Parliamentarian cause Lord Protector of England from 1653 to his death in 1658, fewer figures can claim to have changed the face of this nation. However, this painting bears witness to a curious attempt to visually transform and deface the portrait into the image of a flamboyant long haired Royalist.
The face pattern of this portrait relates to a painting of Oliver Cromwell by the artist Robert Walker (1599-1658). The primary version of this 1649 portrait survives in the National Portrait Gallery in London (NPG 536). Several studio versions of this model have survived, which often softened the features of this sitter. One such head and shoulders portrait of the same face pattern sold at Sotheby’s, London, 10th December 2015, lot 110. It is likely that this painting started off its life as a workshop piece of this significant figure. Portraiture undoubtedly served several purposes, including those of pollical propaganda. Images of Cromwell were widely produced to support his cult of personality.
After Cromwell’s death in 1658 the country suffered greatly from a power vacuum created by the loss of such a titanic figure. He left a weak and ineffective heir who was unable to grasp the intricacies of statesmanship. The Restoration of the Stuart Monarch in 1660 heralded a great period of reversal, where images and statues of the previous regime were defaced or removed.
It seems that the painting has been adapted at a later period. A flamboyant black wig has been painted on top of Cromwell’s tightly cut hair. Equally, a decorative lace collar has been added to the neckline to increase the visual impact of the sitter’s status. The curious addition of a garter chain too is most suggestive of a blatant attempt to recast the sitter as a loyal Royalist. Might this have been a joking attempt, perhaps, to transform the sitter into a Stuart monarch? Certainly, there is a momentary imitation perhaps of the cavalier fashions of King Charles I.
We cannot be sure exactly when these later additions were made. It’s quite possible that the portrait has been cut down since its initial conception. The high quality stretcher, which may date to the eighteenth century, indicates that the painting has been this size for at least two hundred years.
To restore the painting, and remove the later overpaint, would certainly also eradicate a fabulous tale. Hence, it is presented in its current state in order to perpetuate its mysterious and curious history.
English early to mid-17th cent.
H: 56cm (22.0in)
W: 46cm (18.1in)
D: 4cm (1.6in)
SOLD
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