Marble Bust of Oliver Cromwell.
at Hovingham Hall, Yorkshire.
and a Bust of Cromwell by Joseph Wilton
in the Government Art Collection.
This post updated 6 June 2023.
Perhaps by Joseph Wilton or his studio, but most likely an indifferent 19th century copy.
This bust has been attributed to Laurence Anderson Holme but the recent reappearance of a bust of Cromwell at a Sotheby's sale in Milan, I believe has put paid to this argument.
see - https://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2023/03/marble-bust-of-oliver-cromwell-sothebys.html
I have recently posted on the three similar busts of Cromwell by Joseph Wilton.
I find this mysterious bust somewhat troublesome - at first glance it appears to be quite competent but the hair appears to be very roughly sketched and so I make a tentative attribution here to the Wilton studio, or morelikely a 19th Century copy.
The photographs of the Hovingham bust below were provided by Claire at the estate office at Hovingham Hall to whom I would like to express my very sincere thanks.
The photographs of the Hovingham bust below were provided by Claire at the estate office at Hovingham Hall to whom I would like to express my very sincere thanks.
In 1778 Thomas Worsley of Hovingham records in his catalogue a plaster? bust of Cromwell in the drawing room in a niche over the chimney (this feature has now disappeared).
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This bust is mentioned again as being in a niche over the
chimneypiece in the dining room at Hovingham in Vallis Eboracensis: Comprising
the History and Antiquities of Easingwold and ...By Thomas Gill pub. 1852.
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Hovingham is country house of c. 1750-1774 with an
additional C.19 servants' wing. Built by Thomas Worsley VI for himself.
Craftsmen working at Hovingham included Jonathan Rose the plasterer; John Devall Junior who provided
an Ionic chimney-piece; Moss, Kelsey and West joiners; Jelfe the mason; Abbott
the painter and Lawrence the woodcarver, all of whose names appear in Thomas
Worsley's accounts held at Hovingham.
For more on Hovingham see -
https://www.hovingham.co.uk/hovingham-hall/history.html
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Oliver Cromwell.
Marble bust.
Attributed here to Joseph Wilton.
Government Art Collection.
Whilst not signed by Wilton, the closeness to his known busts and the oval shape of the socle is typical of his work.
Provenance: With Arcade Gallery; from whom purchased by the Ministry of Works in January 1949.
Arcade Gallery 3 Royal Arcade , Bond Street, W1 (in 1949), Royal Arcade, 29 Old Bond Street (in 1973) run by P. Wengraf.
Height: 61.50 cm, width: 52.00 cm, depth: 31.00 cm.
Inscribed on base: OLIVER CROMWELL / ANGLIAE &C &C / PROTECTOR
Purchased from the Arcade Gallery, January 1949.
Most recent known location : British Embassy (The Hague, Netherlands).
