Artist/Maker

White, Robert __Engraver ||Greenhill, John __After

Place Made

Date Made

1673-1679

Medium

ink on paper

Dimensions

HOA: 11 3/4″; WOA: 7 3/4″

Accession Number

5690.4

Description

Anthony Ashley Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftsbury was born in Dorset in 1621. Elected to Parliament in 1640, he initially supported King Charles I (1600-1649). However, in 1644 he switched sides and joined the Parliamentary forces. Following the death of Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) he began to warm to the Royalist cause. He was one of twelve commissioners sent by the Parliament to negotiate the return of Charles II (1630-1685) from exile in the Hague.

Following the restoration of the monarchy Sir Anthony was made a member of the Privy Council, granted an earldom, and made one of the eight Lords Proprietors of Carolina. The Ashley and Cooper Rivers that form the peninsula on which Charleston, South Carolina, sits are named in his honor.

Lord Ashley Cooper is also well known for his patronage of the philosopher John Locke (1632-1704), who wrote the “Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina.” Lord Ashley Cooper’s grandson, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftsbury (1671-1713), would become one of the most important philosophers of the English enlightenment.

DESCRIPTION: Half length portrait of a seated man with long hair holding a crest in front of a large column and other architectural elements.

Credit Line

Gift of Thomas A. Gray