Robert Walker

The Earls of Bradford, Weston Park (acquired in the late 17th century, possibly when Lambert's house, Wimbledon Place, was sold);
Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 6 July 1983, lot 220, where acquired by the present owner.

M. Pilkington, Gentleman's and Connoisseurs' Dictionary of Painters, London 1770, p. 683;
H. Walpole, Anecdotes of Painting, 3 vols, London 1871, vol. I, p. 215;
C.M. Collins Baker, Lely and the Stuart Portrait Painters, 2 vols, London 1912, vol. I, p. 107;
D. Piper, Catalogue of Seventeenth-Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery, 1625–1714, Cambridge 1963, p. 92.

ENGRAVED
in Mezzotint by A Miller, 1745

The following condition report is provided by Hamish Dewar who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: The canvas has been lined and is securely attached to what would appear to be the original keyed wooden stretcher. There is a slightly raised vertical seam running through the centre of the composition. The paint surface has a slightly glossy and uneven varnish layer. There is a pattern of fine lines of craquelure most notably within the figures' flesh tones and clothing. This appears entirely stable. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows an opaque and discoloured varnish layer and also shows a line of retouching corresponding to the vertical seam mentioned above and other scattered areas of retouching including within the figures and the background. Overall the painting is in reasonably good condition. The work is framed.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) and John Lambert (1619–1683) were two of the leading Generals in the Parliamentary Army during the English Civil War. They fought together at Marston Moor and, as rising stars of both the military and political leadership of the Parliamentarians, served together as commissioners at the surrender of Oxford in 1646. In 1647 Lambert took command of the northern army, quelling disorder in the ranks, and in 1648 he and Cromwell won an important victory over the Scots at the Battle of Preston. In 1650 Lambert accompanied Cromwell to Scotland as his second-in-command, where the former particularly distinguished himself at the Battle of Dunbar and was appointed commissioner for Scotland and Lord-Deputy of Ireland. In 1653, after the dissolution of the Barebones Parliament, it was Lambert who put forward the proposal creating Cromwell Lord Protector for life and he served as a prominent member of the Committee of Council during the early years of the Protectorate.

The head of Lambert relates to that in Walker's half-length oval portrait in armour of the General in the National Portrait Gallery, London. The figure of Cromwell, meanwhile, derives from that in the three-quarter length portrait with a page tying a sash around his waist, also in the National Portrait Gallery, painted circa 1649. Portraits of Cromwell were in production in Walker's studio over a number of years and other good versions of the single figure of the Protector are in the Spencer Collection at Althorp, Leeds City Art Gallery and in the Justitsministeriet at Copenhagen. This is the only known double portrait of Cromwell with another leading Parliamentarian.