The Busts of Oliver Cromwell Part 20. Bust at the Cromwell Museum, Huntingdon.

The Marble Bust of Oliver Cromwell 

at the Cromwell Museum, Huntingdon.
Probably 19th Century.
After the bust by Joseph Wilton.

The bust was acquired by the Museum in May 1962, when it was donated by Sir Mark Turner.

There is no inscription.

Possibly an early work of  Edward Hodges Baily who cut his teeth sculpting the busts of Locke inscribed after Roubiliac 1828, and Francis Bacon both at Magdelen College, Oxford and a bust of Isaac Newton dated 1828 in the National Portrait Gallery. see my blog posts.

 Page 63 of the Biographical Dictionary...also mentions an undated lost bust of Cromwell by Hodges Baily

http://bathartandarchitecture.blogspot.com/2018/01/busts-of-john-locke-and-francis-bacon.html

There is a plaster bust of Cromwell after Wilton in the Royal Academy store, which hopefully I will get to see soon - currently I have no further information as to when it joined the collection but it will be interesting to compare it with the other known signed versions.It might also hopefully shed saome light on the origins of other versions such as the Huntingdon Cromwell Museum Bust.


A lost bust of Cromwell by the Danish born sculptor Lawrence Anderson Holme (Holm) (fl.1759 - 74) is recorded as exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1766. see The Biographical Dictionary of English Sculptors....pub Yale 2009.

Joseph Rose II was his apprentice - Holme recieved premiums from the Society of Artists for classical subjects in 1765 - when he was recorded as living 'next door to the Kings Arms, Hyde Park Corner' he returned to Denmark in about 1774

The Biographical Dictionary of English Sculptors....pub Yale 2009, also mentions a lost bust of Cromwell by Thomas Woolner RA (1825 - 92).

A competent version of the bust by Joseph Wilton (1722 - 1803.

It is currently my opinion that this bust is most likely to be a 19th century copy.


The turned socle was infrequently used in the 18th century.

There is noticeable veining in the marble particularly on the forehead and the left hand side proper of the chest such a flawed piece of marble was unlikely to have been used in the 18th century.

 In my opinion the definition of the carving is not good enough to attribute this bust to Wilton.

A very unsigned similar bust with a turned socle is at Hardwick Hall (National Trust)

See my previous post on the Wilton Bust of Cromwell at the Victoria and Albert Museum:

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


I am very grateful to Stuart Orme Curator / Museum Manager of the Cromwell Museum, Huntingdon for providing me with information regarding its acquisition and for allowing me to use his photographs.

https://www.cromwellmuseum.org/

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Oliver Cromwell.

Wilton type marble bust.

This bust was bequeathed to the National Trust by Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Lord Fairhaven (1896-1966) with the house and the rest of the contents.

The large buckle and leather strap are quite different on the signed bust by Wilton at the V and A and the signed bust in the Government Art collection

Anglesey Abbey.

National Trust

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Oliver Cromwell

Joseph Wilton

Inscribed Opus Josephi Wilton 1762

and dated 1762 

V and A 

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Oliver Cromwell

Joseph Wilton

Government Art Collection

Provenance -With Montague Marcussen Limited; from whom purchased by the Ministry of Works in April 1947

height: 75.00 cm, width: 58.00 cm

Inscribed verso: I. Wilton F:t

Purchased from dealer Montague Marcussen, April 1947.

Last known location - Cabinet Office, 70 Whitehall (London, UK).


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Photographs of the Four Wilton and Wilton Type busts for comparison.

Top Left - V &A Signed version. Top Right Govt. Art Collection, Signed version.

There are Slight variations particularly in the armour beneath the strap and buckle on the right side proper




Bottom Left - Anglesey Abbey unsigned. Bottom Right Cromwell Museum Unsigned.










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