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Cromwell miniature sells, warts and all

He is credited with having coined the phrase "warts and all" while sitting for a portrait.

But yesterday, Oliver Cromwell's pimples did not seem to worry anyone as a four-by-three inch picture of him sold for £535,200.

It makes the Harcourt Miniature, which dates from 1657, the year before Cromwell died, one of the most expensive paintings of its type ever sold at auction.

The oval picture, by Samuel Cooper, Cromwell's favourite artist, is believed to be the image from which all later portrayals of the man who overthrew the monarchy were derived.
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)