John (1619) Lambert Sold at Auction Prices

English School (1659) An important portrait of General John Lambert (1619-83), wearing gold-studded

silver armour and lace jabot, full-bottomed wig enamel, the reverse inscribed and dated, General/ Lambert/ Anno -/ 1659, original silver filigree frame with pierced, scrolling border oval, 54mm. (2 1/8in.) high Lambert was the son of the squire of the village of Malhamdale near Skipton, Yorkshire. Married Frances, the daughter of Sir William Lister, in 1639. On the outbreak of the first Civil War, Lambert joined the Yorkshire Parliamentarians under Lord Fairfax and quickly rose to the rank of colonel. When in command of the Northern Association, he fought at the siege of Oxford, 1646. During the political controversies of 1647, Lambert worked closely with Ireton against the Presbyterians and the Levellers. In 1647, Lambert was promoted to Major General and sent to restore order amongst the northern troops. Lambert was second-in-command to Cromwell at the battle of Preston, August 1648. He was with Cromwell at the siege of Pontefract Castle, remaining in command there when Cromwell returned to London in December. Lambert stayed in England during Cromwell's Irish campaign, then was appointed second-in-command to Cromwell after Fairfax declined to lead the Army against Charles II and the Covenanters. As they rode out of London to cheering crowds, Cromwell famously remarked that the crowds would cheer just as loudly if he and Lambert were going to be hanged. Lambert led the cavalry charge that routed the Scots at Dunbar 1650, and he fought at Worcester in 1651, the last battle of the Civil Wars. He also drafted the Instrument of Government under which Cromwell was appointed Lord Protector after the failure of the Nominated Assembly later that year. Lambert refused to take the oath of loyalty when Cromwell was installed as Lord Protector for life and resigned his commissions, retiring to his house in Wimbledon with his wife and ten children, where he devoted himself to painting and gardening. In 1659, when the present lot was painted, Lambert had regained much influence under Cromwell's son, Richard. He soon, however, fell out with Paliament and, after Haselrig had demanded his impeachent, he marched on Westminster and dissolved the Rump at sword-point. Lambert marched north against Monck in November 1659, but most of his army deserted. By now it was generally believed that Monck intended to restore the Monarchy, and this was widely popular. Lambert was imprisoned in the Tower on his return to London. He made one final attempt to resist the Restoration. The year after the present lot was painted, he escaped from the Tower and issued a proclamation calling on all supporters of the "Good Old Cause" to rally on the battlefield of Edgehill. Colonel Ingoldsby, a Regicide who hoped to win a pardon by taking Lambert, captured him at Daventry. Aged 40 at the Restoration, Lambert spent the rest of his life in prison. He was moved from the Tower to Guernsey and finally to Drake's Island in Plymouth Sound. After the death of his wife in 1676, he lapsed into insanity. He died in February 1684 at the age of 64, having spent the last 24 years of his life in prison. The present lot was possibly given to a supporter of himself and the "Good Old Cause" by Lambert just prior to the Restoration. Lambert's son, also called John (d.1701), was said to have been a miniaturist. It has not been possible to identify the enameller. As Sarah Coffin points out in, The Gilbert Collection; Portrait Miniatures in Enamel, London, 2000, "Petitot left England at the outbreak of the Civil war and with the subsequent decrease in patronage, no other enameller stepped in to replace him.".