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Cromwell in the news
The record price paid for a British miniature was
realised at Sotheby’s on 6th June when a Cooper portrait of Oliver
Cromwell was sold for over £500,000. Not only is it the most expensive
British miniature it is by far and away the most expensive portrait of
Cromwell ever. This was widely reported in a number of the national
broadsheets.
The painting, which measures a little over 4 x 3 inches, is signed and
dated by Cooper 1657. Cooper was undertaking portraits of Cromwell and
various members of his family from about 1650. There are several known
versions of this portrait all of which derive from the ‘unfinished’
sketch in the collection of the Duke of Buccleuch. Under the
Protectorate portrait miniatures were given to foreign ambassadors and
others. This particular miniature is of the highest quality and a
wonderful painting.
The painting was on loan to the Museum of London from the Harcourt
family, who are descendants of Cromwell. It was loaned in lieu of death
duties in the 1920’s, but the family decided last year to withdraw it
and offer it for sale at auction. The original auction estimate was
significantly lower than the price achieved, which reflects the
outstanding nature of the piece.
The very best of news is that it has been purchased by a UK based
institution, Compton Verney House in Warwickshire where it will be on
display in due course.
Other references to Cromwell were perhaps more oblique. The change of
premiership prompted an interesting article in The Independent
28.6.2007 about no 10 Downing Street. Not directly about Cromwell
but about George Downing one-time Protectoral ambassador to the Hague
and supporter of the Parliamentary cause, at least until he changed
sides. He then indulged in a spot of speculative building and ensured
his name would be remembered for evermore.
As ever there was a scattering of references in comment columns on
contemporary politics. Robert Fisk in The Independent 19.5.2007
remarked on Blair ‘he allowed George Bush to do such things as Oliver
Cromwell would find quite normal. Torture. Murder. Rape.’ Very unfair on
Cromwell, no comment on fairness to Dubya. Simon Heffer in The Daily
Telegraph 2.5.2007 mused on a possible dinner party game, ‘Who are
the three great peacetime leaders of our country? ‘ His trio is
Gladstone, Thatcher and Cromwell. Not sure that conversation would have
flowed.
A very positive story again not directly about Cromwell, but about one
of his associates was reported in several papers in the northwest,
including the Manchester Evening News 3.4.2007, which reported
the unveiling of a statue of Colonel Robert Duckenfield outside
Dukinfield Town Hall. The cuttings show a rather splendid bronze statue
and a fine and full civic ceremony with re-enactors, the Black Dyke
Brass Band and very positive comments from the local Council. Hopefully
it may prompt some action on the nearby figure of Cromwell languishing
in Wythenshawe Park.
The Association’s Chairman was quoted in an article in The Sunday
Telegraph 10.6.2007 about a possible new drama series for Channel 4
set in the Civil War. He questioned the value of, and the dangers in,
mixing fact and fiction.
For anybody who may have been dozing through the cricket world cup you
were not dreaming if you thought you saw a flag being waved at the
Ireland-Bangladesh match that said The Lord Protector Huntingdon.
Incongruous it might have been, but as the Hunts Post reported
19.4.2007, it was two local fans waving the name of their local pub,
not members of the Association on a Caribbean recruiting drive.
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