Art under the Protectorate

   

On 30th January 1649 Charles I was beheaded, almost immediately the Parliamentarians planned to seel all his goods (including statues and household objects) to settle his debts with ordinary tradespeople such as tailors, glaziers and embroiderers. Nine trustees were appointed and used the inventory of Charles's art carried out by Abraham van der Doort (his curator) in 1640. They added estimated valuations and by autumn the Great Commonwealth Sale began. In total there were 1,570 paintings.

The King of Spain, Philip IV, (who had inspired Charles to collect in the first place during his visit of 1623), was top of the list of collectors to buy. He used a two-stage process, as he did not want to be seen to be supporting those who had beheaded a king. The first stage involved individuals buying the work and then his agents would buy from them. We still have the Spanish ambassadors reports with lists of pictures and his comments on their aesthetic qualities.

Some of the works were bought by Parliamentarians such as Colonel Hutchinson, who bought the Children of Charles I, and he sold at a profit later. Public statues however were melted down. The equestrian statue of Charles now in Trafalgar Square only survived as the owner, Lord Weston, buried it in his garden.

Other collections were also sold such as those of Henrietta Maria, the young Charles (later Charles II who already owned works of his own), the Duke of Buckingham and the Duke of Hamilton (the Whitehall Group - Charles, Arundel, Buckingham and Hamilton).

Buckingham's eldest son was born in 1828 (the year he was assassinated) and was also called George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, in 1645 went abroad. Parliament seized his collection but the Earl of Northumberland intervened and managed to stop the sale, but took Titian's Cardinal Georges d'Armagnac with his secretary (still in his castle today).

1646 2nd Duke of Buckingham returned and sent the collection to the Netherlands, 16 chests including 200 paintings. He pawned them for cash to live and they were eventually bought by Archduke Leopold William (a great collector then living in the Netherlands) for 60,000 florins. he also bought the Duke of Hamilton's collection (Hamilton had been executed with Charles in 1649).

David Teniers, Archduke Williams' curator, 1651, in the Prado today.

By the 1630s Arundel was in financial difficulties, Van Dyck's Madagascar Portrait, 1636, shows the hair-brained scheme he created to set up a commercial company to exploit Madagascar.

1641, Arundel escorted Maria d'Medici abroad, even then he was selling drawings to pay his debts. In London he sent 60 cases if his belongings abroad. In 1642 he escaped with Henrietta Maria. He died in 1645 in Parma, a broken man. His wife survived to 1644. The collection was sold to support Charles and some went to Parliamentarians. In 1653 Arundel's grandson sought to sell the pictures to the French and Spanish ambassadors but Arundel's youngest son then sued the grandson and stopped the sale. An inventory was drawn up in 1654 and the agent of the Spanish ambassador bought 56 Venetian paintings straight away including eight Veronese (including Christ and the Centurion , still in the Prado).

Jabach, one of Arundel's former agents bought elements of the collection in 1662 including several Holbein's (William Wareham, Anne of Cleves and Concert Champêtre, Titian/Giorgione, sold to Louis XVI in and all still in the Louvre).

His nephews also bought some of the works to make money but they went wrong. First they over-priced the work and sold none, they then set up a lottery but sold no tickets even though it included Titian's Flaying of Marsyas. In the end Carl von Lichtenstein bought it for a vastly reduced price.

The valuation price of the Commonwealth Sale inventory was £33,690 bought it was not all sold so syndicates were set up and the remaining works were given to creditors to pay off the debt. This meant there were masterworks in houses all over London. For example, Charles's tailor had Durer's self-portrait. It was a paradise for the Spanish ambassador as he could knock down prices. Paintings continued to be sold into the 18th century.

The initial sale was in Old Somerset House and it was very slow to get started. Colonel Hutchinson, who was part of the tribunal that sentenced Charles, bought Titian. Venus and the Organ Player for £165 and later sold it for £600. In total Hutchinson spent £1,349 on paintings including the Children of Charles I.

Titian's Rape of Lucretia was bought by Colonel; William Webb another Parliamentarian.

Charles assistant bought pictures for under £40. The Spanish ambassador led the way in the first stage of the sale but on the secondary market. He bought Raphael's The Holy Family ("The Pearl") originally valued at £3,000 for £2,600.

Titian's St. Peter Enthroned and Pope Alexander X was valued at £250, the Spanish ambassador said it was dark and melancholy and not a painting of taste so he was able to judge between different Titians. Titian's Entombment of Christ was £600. Nine tapestries of the Acts of the Apostles were £3,969.

In the early stages the French were not involved but they entered during the second stage. One of the creditors was Balthazar Gerbier who ran away when the Civil War started and returned and was able to weasel his way into the affections of Cromwell's government even though he had been knighted by Charles. He wrote a pamphlet condemning Charles. Emperor Charles V with hound was given to him to pay off his debt of £150 and he sold it to Spain (it is still in the Prado).

1650, 674 paintings were given to the creditors and many were sold to the Spanish ambassador. Ruben's Peace and War was valued at £100 and was given to a creditor.

1653 the market was saturated and prices went down but the French ambassador entered the market representing Cardinal Mazarin and prices went up. Colonel Hutchinson bought Titian's Pardo Venus for £600 in 1649 (it was given to Charles in 1623), he then offered it to the French ambassador for £4,200 and a few days later raised the price to £4,900 and sold it.

Some works were reserved for the Government including Mantegna's Triumphs of Caesar and Raphael's Cartoons of the Acts of the Apostles. It was a peculiar rag-bag including tapestries, one or two portraits, old testament subjects. Possibly it was because they actively used the palaces to entertain foreign dignitaries and they could not have bare walls so they kept the serious subjects they were not Catholic.

Paintings Inspired by Van Dyck

Van Dyck created a new style of painting they many followed.

Gilbert Jackson went round the country painting portraits, for example, Lord Belasyse, 1636, is an poor attempt to paint in a Van Dyck style.

John Souch, Sir Thomas Aston and His Family, 1636, Manchester. Son on left is his second wifes. In 1616 Souch was apprentice to a herald in Chester and this could be the reason for his flat style.

Saltonstall Family, 1636/7, Tate Britain, usually attributed to David Des Granges.

William Dobson, Prince Charles, 1642. In 1642 Charles I held his court in Oxford. The portrait is indebted to Van Dyck as is the background but the medusa head is too stark for Van Dyck and Van Dyck would never have cut off Charles at the knees.

Endymion Porter (a friend of Charles), a beautiful picture by Dobson. The Van Dyck Baroque tradition is clearly being absorbed into English painting by the early 1640s.

Cromwell Imagery

Cromwell had no court painter but he used six or seven painters. See handout engraving of Oliver and Elizabeth Cromwell in the style of Myten's portrait of Charles and Henrietta Maria (also Van Dyck's portrait). Do we interpret the symbology as representing the divine right of kings or much more broadly. It is unclear why Oliver is on the right as the man always stood on the left, maybe it was because it was an engraving. The dress is plain, no lace and Puritan. Although the dress has décolleté it was fashionable amongst Puritans. Note that the faces are virtually identical. Oliver constantly used the word plain and this shows his plain clothing (but note that Velazquez's Portrait of Philip IV of Spain he is also plain but Catholic).

Robert Walker, Oliver Cromwell, 1649, Walker becomes the Van Dyck of the Parliamentarians. Note that armour was redundant in the 17th century because of gunfire and although a breast plate and back plate were worn this full armour and the sash round his waist are pure invention.

Walker said he followed the postures of Van Dyck because he could think of nothing better (not the similarity to Van Dyck's Earl of Strafford). Titian's Alucution of Alphonso Dabaloss in Charles's collection was the ultimate inspiration.

Henry Ireton (Robert Walker) a leading commander, like Van Dyck's Arundel and his Grandson.

Robert Walker, Richard Dean, like Van Dyck's Earl of Northumberland.

Robert Walker, Oliver Cromwell (fig. 6), is not so much like Van Dyck, so his portraits do show an evolution.

Fig. 7, Sir Peter Lely, Oliver Cromwell, 1654 and Samuel Cooper's Oliver Cromwell are both different from Van Dyck as they are not idealised. Cromwell is alleged to have said "Paint me as I look, warts and all" to Sir Peter Lely.

The print by Peter Lombart of Oliver Cromwell and Charles I on horseback has Van Dyck's Charles I On Horseback with M. de St. Antoine as its model. In 1655 Oliver Cromwell's head was added and in the 1660s Charles I head was put back.

Oliver Cromwell turned down the monarchy possibly because as Protector he was a dictator and more powerful then a mere monarch.