Bidspirit auction | Attributed to Robert Walker ”Portrait

Attributed to Robert Walker ”Portrait of Henry Ireton” Oil on Canvas - No signature visible but attributed to Robert Walker (1607-1658).  Description per appraisal: Bust portrait.  Provenance: Purchased from Parke-Bernet Galleries in 1973.    Image: 22” x 18”  Frame: 30” x 26”    Condition: Crazing throughout the painting. There is some cloudiness to the glaze; the face is untouched by this effect.    Attributed To: In our opinion, a work of the period of the artist which may be, in whole or in part, the work of the artist. Lots catalogued as ”Attributed to” are sold as such and carry no guarantee of authorship. Bidders are encouraged to examine the lot in person or request additional images and to form their own opinion prior to bidding.    Artist Bio: Robert Walker (c.1599–1658) was an English portrait painter who served as the principal portraitist to Oliver Cromwell and the Parliamentarian establishment during the English Civil War and Interregnum. His style derived directly from Anthony van Dyck — Walker openly modeled his compositions on Van Dyck's earlier Caroline court portraits — and he produced the defining likenesses of Cromwell and his inner circle, including Henry Ireton, John Lambert, and Charles Fleetwood. Because Walker effectively cornered the market for Parliamentarian portraiture in the 1640s and 1650s, his image of Ireton, Cromwell's son-in-law and a major Commonwealth general, survives in multiple period versions. Attributed Walker portraits of Civil War sitters remain of particular interest to collectors of 17th-century British history painting.