id: 127231
accession number: 1949.548
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1949.548
updated: 2023-03-08 14:59:13.225000
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 (organizer) (November 10, 2013-February 16, 2014).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* Main Gallery Rotation (Gallery 202), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 22, 2008 - January 5, 2009).
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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:
A replica of Cleveland’s miniature was painted by Lady Margaret Bingham, Countess of Lucan.
digital description:
wall description:
In his seventies when the portrait was painted, Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) is turned slightly to his left, his eyes directed at the spectator. He has thin gray hair extending to his collar and a gray mustache and goatee. Only his head is finished; a thin gray wash loosely describes a plain, flat collar. Hobbes was born in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. In spite of humble parentage, he rose to prominence as a brilliant linguist and author of the 1651 book Leviathan, a seminal work of social contract theory that advocated for government led by a strong sovereign. As a royalist he was forced to flee England when the civil war broke out in 1642, and he resided in France until the war’s end in 1651. He was a friend of Cooper, who painted his miniature on at least two occasions.
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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:
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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