King Charles I

Sitterback to top

• King Charles I (1600-1649), Reigned 1625-49. Sitter associated with 330 portraits.

Artistback to top

• Unknown artist. Artist associated with 6232 portraits.

This portraitback to top

The younger son of James I, Charles became heir to the throne on the death of his brother Henry in 1612. A passionate collector and patron of art, he assembled the greatest of all British royal collections. This portrait, which is almost certainly by the Flemish artist van Blyenberch, may be one which was owned by Charles himself, and was recorded in an early inventory. It combines elements both of the mannerist style favoured by the court of Charles's father and of the more grandiose manner which would find its fullest expression in the later portraits of Charles by Van Dyck. The curtains sweep and swathe the columns in a strikingly sculptural manner which defies gravity and logic, and the floor on which the Prince stands suddenly gives way to a remarkably sophisticated and delicate landscape.

Linked publicationsback to top

• MacLeod, Catherine, Tudor and Jacobean Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery Collection at Montacute House, 1999, p. 31
• Piper, David, The English Face, 1992, p. 78
• Piper, David, Catalogue of Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery, 1625-1714, 1963, p. 60
• Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 115

Subjects & Themesback to top

• Carpets and textiles
• On display at the Gallery