id: 127231
accession number: 1949.548
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1949.548
updated: 2025-06-21 11:15:20.788000
Portrait of Thomas Hobbes, c. 1660. Samuel Cooper (British, 1608/09–1672). Watercolor on vellum in a gilt metal frame; framed: 7.3 x 6.3 cm (2 7/8 x 2 1/2 in.); sight: 6.7 x 5.8 cm (2 5/8 x 2 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Edward B. Greene Collection, 1949.548
title: Portrait of Thomas Hobbes
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: c. 1660
creation date earliest: 1655
creation date latest: 1665
current location:
creditline: The Edward B. Greene Collection
copyright:
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culture: England, 17th century
technique: watercolor on vellum in a gilt metal frame
department: European Painting and Sculpture
collection: P - British before 1800
type: Portrait Miniature
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
* Samuel Cooper (British, 1608/09–1672) - artist
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measurements: Framed: 7.3 x 6.3 cm (2 7/8 x 2 1/2 in.); Sight: 6.7 x 5.8 cm (2 5/8 x 2 5/16 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: The World of Miniature Painting
opening date: 1953-09-20T04:00:00
The World of Miniature Painting. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 20-November 10, 1953).
title: Samuel Cooper and His Contemporaries
opening date: 1974-02-06T04:00:00
Samuel Cooper and His Contemporaries. National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (organizer) (February 6-May 12, 1974).
title: Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum
opening date: 1991-06-07T04:00:00
Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).
title: Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America
opening date: 1993-03-26T04:00:00
Intimate Images: Portrait Miniatures from Europe and America. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 26-October 17, 1993).
title: Disembodied: Portrait Minatures and their Contemporary Relatives
opening date: 2013-11-10T00:00:00
Disembodied: Portrait Minatures and their Contemporary Relatives. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 10, 2013-February 16, 2014).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* {'description': 'Main Gallery Rotation (Gallery 202), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 22, 2008 - January 5, 2009).', 'opening_date': '2008-09-22T00:00:00'}
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PROVENANCE
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
date: c. 1660-72
footnotes:
citations:
Christiana Cooper (née Turner, 1623–1693)
date: 1672-c.1693
footnotes:
citations:
William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire (1748–1811)
date: By 1970-
footnotes:
citations:
(Sale: Christie, Manson & Woods, London, March 1932).
date: March 1932
footnotes:
citations:
(Leo Schidlof (1886-1966), Paris, France, sold to Edward B. Greene)
date:
footnotes:
citations:
Edward B. Greene (1878-1957), Cleveland, OH, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art
date: -1949
footnotes:
citations:
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
date: 1949-
footnotes:
citations:
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fun fact:
digital description:
wall description:
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Fagan, Louis. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Engraved Works of William Faithorne. London: B. Quaritch, 1888.
page number: pp. 41–42, no. 112
url:
Foster, J. J. A List, Alphabetically Arranged, of Works of English Miniature Painters of the XVII Century, With a Description of the Same, Names of the Owners and Remarks. Supplementary to Samuel Cooper & the English Miniature Painters of the XVII Century. London: Dickinsons, 1914.
page number: p. 44
url:
Cleveland Museum of Art. Portrait Miniatures: The Edward B. Greene Collection. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1951.
page number: Mentioned: p. 25, no. 4; Reproduced: plate XXIII
url: https://archive.org/details/PortraitMiniatures/page/n49
Comstock, Helen. "The Edward B. Greene Collection on Miniatures." The Connoisseur 128 (October 1951): 138-140.
page number: Mentioned: p. 139
url:
Piper, David. The English Face. London, United Kingdom: Thames and Hudson, 1957.
page number: Reproduced: p. 118, fig. 53
url:
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 464
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n85
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page number: Reproduced: p. 127
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n151
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
page number: Reproduced: p. 127
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n151
Foskett, Daphne, and Samuel Cooper. Samuel Cooper and His Contemporaries. London. National Portrait Gallery. Catalogues. 1973-1974. London: H.M. Stationery Off.; distributed by Pendragon House, Palo Alto, 1974.
page number: Mentioned: cat. no. 83
url:
Foskett, Daphne. Samuel Cooper, 1609-1672. London, United Kingdom: Faber, 1974.
page number: Reproduced: p. 23, 43, 60, np. 55, fig. 55
url:
Houfe, Simon. "Prince of Limners." The Antique Collector 45, no. 3 (May 1974): 62-66.
page number: Mentioned: p. 33; reproduced: p. 66
url:
Reynolds, Graham. Samuel Cooper's Pocket-Book. [Victoria and Albert Museum Brochures, 1972-75]. London, United Kingdom: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1975.
page number: Reproduced: p. 5, pl. 7
url:
Gaunt, William. Court Painting in England from Tudor to Victorian Times. London, United Kingdom: Constable, 1980.
page number: Reproduced: p. 131
url:
Murdoch, John. The English Miniature. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1981.
page number: Reproduced: p. 109
url:
Murdoch, John. The English Miniature. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981.
page number:
url:
Norwich, John Julius. Britain's Heritage. London, United Kingdom: Granada, 1983.
page number: Reproduced: p. 183
url:
Hughes, Clair, and Haruhiko Fujii. English portraits. Tōkyō, Japan: Eihōsha, 1986.
page number: Reproduced: p. 29, fig. 8
url:
Reynolds, Graham. English Portrait Miniatures. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
page number: Reproduced: p. 59-60
url:
Wendorf, Richard. The Elements of Life: Biography and Portrait-Painting in Stuart and Georgian England. Oxford, United Kingdom: Clarendon Press, 1990.
page number: Reproduced: pl. 38
url:
Turner, Evan H. Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: p. 116
url:
Cleveland Museum of Art, and Alan Chong. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993.
page number: p. 281
url:
Bredekamp, Horst. Thomas Hobbes visuelle Strategien: der Leviathan: Urbild des modernen Staates ; Werkillustrationen und Portraits. Berlin, Germany: Akad.-Verl, 1999.
page number: Reproduced: p. 186
url:
Korkow, Cory, and Dario Robleto. Disembodied: Portrait Miniatures and Their Contemporary Relatives. 2013.
page number: Mentioned: p. 86
url:
Korkow, Cory, and Jon L. Seydl. British Portrait Miniatures: The Cleveland Museum of Art. 2013.
page number: Cat.no. 17, pp. 94-97
url:
Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 196-197
url:
"August." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 65, no. 2 (2025): 18.
page number: Reproduced: p. 18.
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAMM-2025-02
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1949.548/1949.548_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1949.548/1949.548_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1949.548/1949.548_full.tif