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John Milton

Death mask of John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet, author, polemicist and civil servant for the Commonwealth of England. He is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost. He was a scholarly man of letters, a polemical writer, and an official serving under Oliver Cromwell. Milton is believed to have been a Calvinist and the question of predestination and freedom was crucial to his intellectual orientation. He wrote at a time of religious and political flux in England, and his poetry and prose reflect deep convictions, often reacting to contemporary circumstances such as his treatise condemning censorship, Areopagitica. As well as English, he wrote in Latin and Italian, and had an international reputation during his lifetime. After his death, Milton's personal reputation oscillated, a state of affairs that continued through the centuries. At an early stage he became the subject of partisan biographies, such as that of John Toland from the nonconformist perspective, and a hostile account by Anthony à Wood. Samuel Johnson described him as "an acrimonious and surly republican"; but William Hayley's 1796 biography called him the "greatest English author". He remains generally regarded "as one of the preeminent writers in the English language and as a thinker of world importance."[Wikipedia] He was admitted pensioner 1624/5; BA1628/9; MA 1632. He resided at Cambridge from 1625 to 1632. He seems to have intended taking Holy Orders but his puritanical views and the activities of Archbishop Laud put him off. But for this he would in all probability have been a Fellow of the College, Cecil Courtney, 'The Printed Books and Manuscripts in the Old Library', Christ's College Magazine, 231 (2006) states that 'It is probable that the bust of Milton which is today in the Senior Combination Room was also given by Hollis; at least it is known that, at one time, it belonged to him.' His source appears to be W.H. Bond, 'Thomas Hollis of Lincoln's Inn: A Whig and His Books', (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990) which states on pp.109-110 that Hollis donated 'various other Miltoniana, including the bust now in the Senior Combination Room'. The sculptor and architect Edward Pierce was born c.1635 and became a freeman of the Painter-Stainers’ Company in London in 1656. He acquired a considerable reputation for carving in wood and stone, sculpting terracotta busts of John Milton and Oliver Cromwell. After the Fire of 1666, Christopher Wren employed Pierce to do carving for the churches he was rebuilding in the city of London. He also carved decorative carvings in St Paul’s Cathedral and at Whitehall Palace. Pierce executed stone or marble statues of Elizabeth I and Edward III for the Royal Exchange, and Henry V for the Goldsmiths’ Company (all now destroyed). Apart from his commissions in London, he provided carving for fountains (1690) at Hampton Court Palace. The marble bust of Sir Christopher Wren that Pierce carved in 1673 is often considered his masterpiece. A plaster cast of this work is in the RA collection and shows Pierce to have been one of the finest portraitists of the 17th century. Pierce died in 1695

Death mask of Milton (See note 1 in Milton Tercentenary catalogue 1908)

According to Goodison "Catalogue of the Portraits in Christ's, Clare and Sydney Sussex Colleges", this bust was bequeathed by the Rev John Disney D.D. 1816 . The bust was in the collection of George Vertue in 1740, who sold it to Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1757, who in turn sold it to Thomas Hollis. It was bequeathed by him to Thomas Brand, who became Brand Hollis in 1774; he bequeathed it to Rev John Disney in 1804. It was exhibited in the Christ's College Milton Tercentenary in 1908. It was photographed for the National Portrait Gallery in 1964 [Notes filing cabinet 4]

17th century