Lot 92: Cromwell's Family, Interceding for the Life of Charles I

William Fisk (1796-1872)
Cromwell's Family, Interceding for the Life of Charles I
oil on canvas
31 x 24 in. (78.7 x 61 cm.)

London, Royal Academy, 1840, no.134.

Lee L. Lovett, Esq., by 1951.

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 17.5% on the buyer's premium.
William Fisk's obituary in the Art Journal in 1873 praised his historical painting as 'most creditable examples - well composed, careful in execution, and accurate in costume and accessories'

He was born in 1796 at Thorpe le Soken, Essex, a county in which his ancestors had settled during the reign of Henry IV. His early interest in drawing was suppressed by his family and he did not take up painting until the age of thirty one. By 1829 he exhibited his first picture at the Royal Academy.

The present picture was exhibited at the Academy in 1840, the same year his Attempted Assassination of Lorenzo di Medici was awarded the gold medal of the Manchester Institution for the best historical picture exhibited in the gallery of the Society.

During his lifetime, Fisk's work became widely known through large scale engravings, several of which were re-engraved several times in order to meet the demand.