Sir Robert Cotton and the commemoration of famous men

THIS article is concerned with the interest Sir Robert Cotton took in the funerary monument as shown by a group of tombs and epitaphs which he had erected in All Saints, Conington, Huntingdonshire, probably circa 1613-15. The appearance and placing of these were influenced by Cotton's views on the use of the stele and cippus in antiquity. It will be suggested that Sir Robert has a distinguished if modest place in developing the repertoire of Jacobean sculptors, whilst his close involvement with the Conington monuments, encourages the view that he had wider concerns than has been appreciated. The article ends with a consideration of a monument to Sir Robert himself, also in All Saints, erected by his son, Sir Thomas Cotton.