What can we learn from portraits of Oliver Cromwell?

1
What can we learn from portraits of Oliver
Cromwell?
2
What do these portraits tell us about our Queen?
Why do people have their portrait painted?
3
Lets look at the story of Oliver Cromwell..
Cromwell became an MP first for Huntingdon then
for Cambridge.
Cromwell became very religious he thought it
was his job to carry out Gods work.
During the Civil War Cromwell gained lots of
military experience.
Cromwell became Lord Protector of England,
although he refused the title of King.
Our task today is to look at how Oliver Cromwell
used portraits to tell people about himself. If
you were Cromwell, which aspects of your
character would you want people to know about?
4
What other questions do I need to ask about this
picture?
Who painted this picture?
What does this suggest?
Did the artist like Oliver Cromwell?
What can I see?
This suggests he has military experience
This suggests he thought appearance was important
Cromwell looks very smart.
Cromwell is wearing armour.
"I desire you would use all your skill to paint
my picture truly like me, and not flatter me at
all but remark all the roughness, pimples, warts
and everything, otherwise I will never pay a
farthing for it." These were Cromwells
instructions to the artist of this picture. Why
do you think he wanted to be shown warts and
all?
5
????
Think carefully about the picture in front of
you. Which part of Cromwells life do you think
it represents? Have a go at writing a thought
bubble to go with your image. What was Cromwell
thinking when he had this picture made?
????
????
????
6
Imagine you are writing the introduction to the
images section of a guidebook to the Cromwell
Museum. What can you say about these
images? Write a short introduction focusing on
the question What can images tell us about
Oliver Cromwell?
You could also have a go at writing the entry for
your picture what does it show? What does it
suggest?