Oliver Cromwell - London, England, UK
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Metro2
N 51° 31.131 W 000° 07.573
30U E 699376 N 5711441
In 1649, Oliver Cromwell overthrew the British monarchy and briefly established a republic.
Waymark Code: WMDK9Z
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/24/2012
Views: 7
This bust of Cromwell is located in the British Museum which does not charge an admission fee. The Museum does, however, permit non-flash photography.
The Museum's website (
visit link) has this to say about the life-sized sculpture:
"Terracotta portrait bust of Oliver Cromwell by Louis-François Roubiliac
London, England, around AD 1759
Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), who had studied law, was a Member of Parliament at the outbreak of the English Civil War in 1642. He joined the cavalry under Essex, and soon established a formidable military reputation. As one of the judges at Charles I's trial, Cromwell signed the King's death warrant in 1649. Under the new Commonwealth, Cromwell was installed as Lord Protector in 1653, and campaigned vigorously for religious liberty for Protestants and Nonconformists. After the Restoration of Charles II to the English throne in 1660, Cromwell's body was exhumed from Westminster Abbey and hung on the gallows at Tyburn; his head was set on a pole on top of Westminster Hall.
Despite the memories of the Civil War and the Commonwealth, busts of Cromwell were extremely popular in the eighteenth century, and were carved by all the leading sculptors. Roubiliac produced a number of portraits of Cromwell. This example has lost most of its original surface coating, but traces of a dark brown layer remain on the face and hair."
Wikipedia (
visit link) adds:
"Cromwell was one of the commanders of the New Model Army which defeated the royalists in the English Civil War. After the execution of King Charles I in 1649, Cromwell dominated the short-lived Commonwealth of England, conquered Ireland and Scotland, and ruled as Lord Protector from 1653 until his death in 1658.
Cromwell was born into the ranks of the middle gentry, and remained relatively obscure for the first 40 years of his life. Along with his brother, Henry, he kept a smallholding of chickens and sheep, selling eggs and wool to support himself. His lifestyle resembled that of a yeoman farmer until he received an inheritance from his uncle. After undergoing a religious conversion during the same decade, Cromwell made an independent style of puritanism an essential part of his life. As a ruler he executed an aggressive and effective foreign policy and did as much as any English leader to shape the future of the land he governed. But his Commonwealth collapsed after his death and the royal family was restored in 1660. An intensely religious man—a self-styled Puritan Moses—he fervently believed God was guiding his victories. He was never identified with any one sect or position, however, and strongly favoured religious tolerance for all the various Protestant groups."