The Busts of Oliver Cromwell Part 16. - Three Marble busts - Government Art Collection, Ross Hamilton Sale, and Hovingham Hall.

Oliver Cromwell 

 Three more Marble busts.

One in the Government Art Collection,

 another from the Christie's Ross Hamilton Sale,

and a further at Hovingham Hall.

 In the Manner of Joseph Wilton.

for the signed Wilton Busts of Cromwell see -

http://english18thcenturyportraitsculpture.blogspot.com/2019/02/oliver-cromwell-marble-bust-by-joseph.html

Provenance: With Arcade Gallery; from whom purchased by the Ministry of Works in January 1949

       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).

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 Marble Bust of Oliver Cromwell.
Anonymous

Not inscribed.

Sold from the Collection of London dealer Ross Hamilton by Christie's of South Kensington. Lot 163, 27th February 2013.

Height 68 cms.

The quality of the carving of this bust, although now somewhat obscured by restoration / repolishing ? suggests to me that it is a 19th century replica based on the Wilton bust now in the Government Art Collection.

The surface of this bust is somewhat ill defined and has probably been re polished after spending some time outside and exposed to the weather.

There is another loose version of these busts at the Worsley family home Hovingham Hall in Yorkshire (see below).

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The Hovingham Bust of Oliver Cromwell.

For an update see my post -

https://english18thcenturyportraitsculpture.blogspot.com/2019/04/unsigned-marble-bust-of-oliver-cromwell.html

In 1778 Thomas Worsley records in his catalogue a plaster? bust of Cromwell in the drawing room in a niche over the chimney (now disappeared). This bust is mentioned 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.

Hovingham is country house of c. 1750 -1774 with an additional 19 century servants' wing. Built by Thomas Worsley VI for himself. Craftsmen 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 (Richard?) Lawrence the woodcarver, all of whose names appear in Thomas Worsley's accounts held at Hovingham.

For Hovingham see - https://www.hovingham.co.uk/hovingham-hall/history.html

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1315690

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The three busts pictured below (the Russel Coats version, the Milwaukee version, and the Lady Lever version) all very much resemble the Hovingham bust in the hair and facial details, but the collar and armour are quite different.

The Hovingham bust resembles facially the signed and dated Wilton bust in the Government Art Collection.

A bust of Cromwell was first noted at Hovingham in 1778

It is something of a leap of faith but the bust of Cromwell by Lawrence Anderson Holme, now missing and recorded as exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1766 is perhaps closely related to the  busts of Cromwell (all unsigned) depicted below, given that Holme had been  associated with Joseph Wilton and Cappizoldi and the manufacture and carving of the State coach.

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