Studio of Robert Walker

Probably Colonel Philip Jones (1618–1674);

By descent to Oliver Harris Valpy (1876–1914);

By inheritance to to his sister Clara Valpy (1877–1969), who married Seymour William Brooke Boothby (1866–1951); 

Thence by descent in the Boothby family at Fonmon Castle, Vale of Glamorgan, to the present owners. 

A Catalogue of the Pictures in Fonmon Castle 1743, MS D/DF F/190, Glamorgan Archives, Cardiff, no. 8;

B. Heath Malkin, The Scenery, Antiquities, and Biography of South Wales, vol. 1, London 1807, p. 204 (the finest portrait extant of Oliver Cromwell);

G. Nicholson, The Cambrian Traveller’s Guide: In Every Direction, London 1813, p. 415;

T. Dugdale, Curiosities of Great Britain, England & Wales, London 1830, p. 60 (an excellent portrait of Oliver Cromwell);

Anon., ‘Cambrian Archaeological Association’, in The Builder, London 1888, vol. 55, no. 2377, p. 124 (said to have been painted by Barber);

J. Murray, A Handbook for Travellers in South Wales…, London 1890, p. 24;

Anon., ‘Publications and Proceedings of Archaeological Societies’, in The Antiquary, London 1895, vol. 31, no. 61, p. 349;

H.M. Vaughan, ‘Oliver Cromwell in South Wales 1648–9’, in The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, London 1937, session 1936, p. 48, reproduced;

A. Oswald, ‘Fonmon Castle, Glamorgan II: The Home of Sir Seymour Boothby, Bt., and Lady Boothby’, in Country Life, vol. 105, no. 2723, 1949, p. 671 (as Robert Walker);

A. Oswald, ‘Fonmon Castle, Glamorgan III: The Home of Sir Seymour Boothby, Bt., and Lady Boothby’, in Country Life, vol. 105, no. 2724, pp. 734–735, reproduced;

J. Steegman, A Survey of Portraits in Welsh Houses, vol. 2, Cardiff 1962, p. 93, no. 5 (as after Robert Walker);

D. Barnes, The Companion Guide to Wales, Woodbridge and Rochester 2005, p. 173 (as Robert Walker).

A studio variant of the three-quarter-length portrait of Cromwell and his page by Robert Walker, which exists in a number of versions. What is thought to be the prime version hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, London (inv. no. NPG 536).

It is almost certain that this portrait was commissioned or owned by Colonel Philip Jones (1618–1674), a significant figure in the history of South Wales during the Cromwellian period. The painting is noted in many of the travel journals and publications of the nineteenth century as being one of the highlights of the collection at Fonmon Castle, Glamorganshire, which he purchased in 1654 (see Literature). For Jones' portrait in this sale see Lot 46.