Historical Background
The painting depicts Cromwell as a country squire on his lands in Cambridgeshire before he became a national figure in the power struggles which culminated in the English Civil War. Cromwell's identity as a leading revolutionary had been affirmed by Thomas Carlyle's biography Oliver Cromwell's letters and speeches, with elucidations (1845), in which his reluctance to take up the role of leader was emphasised. Carlyle was an important influence on Brown.
Read more about this topic: Cromwell On His Farm
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