Terms and conditions of use
Oliver Cromwell on horseback
(c. 1658); reworked (c. 1660-1667)
Medium
engraving
Measurements
54.2 × 34.7 cm irreg. (image) 54.7 × 35.2 cm (sheet, trimmed to platemark)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Everard Studley Miller Bequest, 1959
Gallery location
17th Century & Flemish Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
This engraving is known colloquially as the ‘Headless Horseman’, after a number of surviving impressions in which the rider’s face is completely erased. Ironically, Pierre Lombart based this portrait of Oliver Cromwell on Anthony van Dyck’s 1633 painting of Charles I on horseback. After Cromwell’s death and the fall of the republican Commonwealth in 1660, his head was erased and re-engraved as that of the French king, Louis XIV. Following Lombart’s death, Cromwell’s head was restored, driven by demand from print collectors. The horseman subsequently took on Charles I’s likeness, before Cromwell’s head was reinstated in the print’s final state.
Artwork Details
Catalogue/s Raisonné
New Hollstein 392 v/vii
Edition
5th of 7 states
Inscription
printed in ink l.l.: OLIVERIVS MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ. HIBERNIÆ / HANVE SVMM ET TOTO TERRARVM / EFFICIEM SVPREMO SVÆ CELSITVDINIS
printed in ink l.c.: (armorial)
printed in ink l.c.r.: ET TOTIVS ANGELICI IMPERII PROTECTOR. / ORBE CELEBERRIMI HEROIS / CONSILIO D.D.D.
printed in ink l.r.: Wandeck Pinxit. P.Lombart Sculp. (. under squiggle)
Accession Number
X365-5
Departments
International Prints / International Prints and Drawings
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of the Joe White Bequest
Subjects (general)
Another Work Portraits
Subjects (specific)
armour (protective wear) batons (symbols or weapons) Cromwell, Oliver equestrian portraits horse (species) men (male humans) reproductive prints statesmen
Movements
Baroque