Sculpture

Oliver Cromwell

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Type: Sculpture(Opens in new tab)
Date: ca. 1755
Accession number: 80.19
Maker: Michael Rysbrack(Opens in new tab) (Flemish, 1684–1770)
Dimensions: height: 23 1/2 in. (59.7 cm.)
Medium: marble
Description: This bust portrays the English stateman, politician, and soldier Oliver Cromwell.
Credit: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Department: European Art
Find out more: View in the Art Museum catalog(Opens in new tab)

Label text

The sculptor has captured the distinctive heavy brow, strong jaw, and broad nose of Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658), famous English political and military leader. Rysbrack shows his commanding subject with stern gaze, shoulders squared, and jaw set. His armor, including a frightful head of Medusa in the center, marks him as a powerful military ruler and links him to the bust of John Hampden on display nearby that served as its pendant.

Oliver Cromwell

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