Cleveland Museum of Art
Portrait of Thomas Hobbes
Samuel CooperLinkedCulture matchlcp-baec0a9d1882
- Date
- c. 1660
- Medium
- watercolor on vellum in a gilt metal frame
- Culture
- England, 17th century
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 127231
From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
In his seventies when the portrait was painted, Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) is turned slightly to his left, his eyes directed at the spectator. He has thin gray hair extending to his collar and a gray mustache and goatee. Only his head is finished; a thin gray wash loosely describes a plain, flat collar. Hobbes was born in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. In spite of humble parentage, he rose to prominence as a brilliant linguist and author of the 1651 book Leviathan , a seminal work of social contract theory that advocated for government led by a strong sovereign. As a royalist he was forced to flee England when the civil war broke out in 1642, and he resided in France until the war’s end in 1651. He was a friend of Cooper, who painted his miniature on at least two occasions. A replica of Cleveland’s miniature was painted by Lady Margaret Bingham, Countess of Lucan.
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Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- The Edward B. Greene Collection
- Provenance
- c. 1660-72: Samuel Cooper (1608/09-1672), promised by the artist to John Aubrey (1626–1697, England) but never changed hands; by inheritance to his wife, Christiana Cooper | 1672-c.1693: Christiana Cooper (née Turner, 1623–1693) | By 1970-: William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire (1748–1811) | March 1932: (Sale: Christie, Manson & Woods, London, March 1932). | (Leo Schidlof (1886-1966), Paris, France, sold to Edward B. Greene) | -1949: Edward B. Greene (1878-1957), Cleveland, OH, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art | 1949-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Part of a LinkedCulture topic
English Portrait MiniaturesA collection of portrait miniatures from 17th-18th century England, predominantly featuring watercolor on ivory or graphite and wash techniques, representing the tradition of intimate personal portraiture in miniature fo
221 objects from 4 institutions
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