AN ENGRAVED PORTRAIT OF CROMWELL.* Mn. GEORGE BOMBS LAXARD has
with great ingenuity worked out the history of an engraved equestrian portrait of Cromwell. The copperplate of this work has gone through many alterations, the engraver, a Frenchman called Lombart, changing the head to accord with the changes of the times. Mr. Layard's contention is that Lombart, wishing to engrave an equestrian portrait of Cromwell, took the horse and general pose of the rider from Van Dyck's portrait of Charles, which is now at Windsor. The background was altered, and instead of the Duke d'Espernon a page was substituted. There remains one difficulty, and this is that the head of Cromwell, which is put on to the body of Charles, shows signs of having been altered and suggests that another head had once been there. Mr. Layard will not allow that Lombart meant to make a portrait of Charles and then altered it to Cromwell, and gives various ingenious, though not conclusive, arguments to prove his con- tention. Only four copies of this state of the engraving are known to exist—two in England and two in Paris—and all four have had the engraver's name scraped out—presumably after the restoration. The next state of the plate shows the head removed, together with the inscription and Cromwell's coat of arms. Then comes a version with an outline of the head of Louis XIV. added ; one impression of this state exists with a head of Gustavus Adolphus drawn in red chalk over the face of Louis. Then, apparently, a return was made to Crom- well; after that Charles's head came back to its own body, and finally another and older head of Cromwell was put on. The whole story is a, curious one, showing how patient research has accumulated evidence.
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