Oil Painting, 'Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658)', Charles Lucy, 1868

A portrait of Oliver Cromwell.

Given by Sir Joshua Walmsley

Given by Sir Joshua Walmsley, 1872.

Historical significance: The history painter Charles Lucy (1814-1873) studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Paul Delaroche and later at the Royal Academy Schools in London. He lived for many years at Barbizon, near Fontainebleau. He specialised in large historical pictures from English history, with a particular interest in Puritan scenes, and exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1834 to 1873. Lucy received a premium of £200 for his painting Embarkation of the Pilgrim Fathers in the ship Mayflower in the Westminster Hall competition of 1847.

In 1868 Lucy was commissioned to paint a series of portraits of eminent figures. The majority were 19th-century English parliamentarians: Joseph Hume, Richard Cobden, John Bright, Gladstone and Disraeli; also depicted were Oliver Cromwell, Horatio Nelson and Giuseppe Garibaldi. The Liberal MP Sir Joshua Walmsley, who commissioned the series, bequeathed it to the V&A in 1872.

This portrait of Oliver Cromwell is part of a series of portraits of eminent figures that Charles Lucy was commissioned to paint in 1868. Nearly all were 19th-century English parliamentarians; the exceptions were Cromwell, Horatio Nelson and Giuseppe Garibaldi. Sir Joshua Walmsley, who commissioned the series, then gave it to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

366-1872