Illustrating Sacred Majesty: ‘Ogilby’s Bible’ and Political and Religious Culture in Restoration Britain

In 1660 the pro-Stuart propagandist John Ogilby (1600–1676) published The Holy Bible containing the books of the Old & New Testament with Chorographical Sculptures. This was a re-issue of the folio edition of the King James Bible which had been published by the printer to the University of Cambridge and erstwhile printer to the Cromwellian government, John Field (d. 1668), with the addition of illustrations. ‘Ogilby’s Bible’, also printed by Field, came in two variants: one was illustrated with eight engravings and etchings – the so-called “Chorographical Sculptures” – by Abraham van Diepenbeeck (1596–1675), Pierre Lombart (1613–81) and Wenceslaus Hollar (1607–77). Another variant, as well as having the aforementioned “Chorographical Sculptures”, was extra-illustrated with over one hundred re-issued engravings – the so-called “Historical Sculptures” – by Claes Jansz. Visscher (1587–1652), originally used in his Theatrum Biblicum (1639), after Dutch and Flemish artists. Ogilby dedicated the Bible to Charles II and presented a copy to him on the king’s first attendance at the Royal Chapel at Whitehall in 1660. 

This paper will explore the illustrations in the Bible through a visual exegesis of the aforesaid eight “Chorographical Sculptures”, and contextualise the royalist thinking embedded in them within a wider discussion of the political and religious culture in Restoration Britain. Specifically, it will be argued that in the illustrations of ‘Ogilby’s Bible’ Charles II (1630–85) is envisioned as a latter-day King Solomon – builder of the first Temple of Jerusalem – and the modern-day founder of a ‘New Jerusalem’; that is, a return to monarchical government in Britain, something which has hitherto been unexplored in any depth in the scholarly literature on Restoration Britain. The argument will be supported with reference to sermons given on the Restoration of Charles II which examine the nature and benefits of monarchy for a Christian nation. In doing so, the paper will shed light on early modern thought on monarchy in Britain and demonstrate the value of using visual sources to learn more about political and religious culture in Early Modern Britain.