King Charles I

1 portrait

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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King Charles I

studio of Isaac Oliver
watercolour on vellum, circa 1616, based on a work of circa 1616
1 7/8 in. x 1 1/2 in. (48 mm x 38 mm) oval
Transferred from The British Museum, London, 1939
Primary Collection
NPG 3064

Images

A dense black paint defines the pupil and has…
Short strokes of brown paint are used to crea…
Detail of the lace ruff painted over the cost…

Sitterback to top

  • King Charles I (1600-1649), Reigned 1625-49. Sitter associated with 335 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • Isaac Oliver (circa 1565-1617), Miniature painter. Artist or producer associated with 73 portraits, Sitter in 5 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Shown here as a young prince, this miniature was painted after Charles's election to the Order of the Garter in 1611, aged 11. It is executed in watercolour on vellum mounted onto a playing card with a single heart on the reverse. He is shown wearing elaborate gilded armour and the blue ribbon of the Order of the Garter.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Piper, David, Catalogue of Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery, 1625-1714, 1963, p. 59
  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 115

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Events of 1616back to top

Current affairs

Playwright, William Shakespeare, dies in Stratford-Upon-Avon on 23rd April, after he contracted a fever. He is buried days later inside Holy Trinity Church in Stratford.
James I's second son, Charles, is invested as Prince of Wales at a lavish ceremony at Whitehall.

Art and science

Poet and playwright Benjamin Jonson, is granted a royal pension effectively establishing him as the first poet laureate in all but name.
Queen Anne commissions Inigo Jones to design a pavilion at Greenwich, the Queen's House.

International

Sir Walter Ralegh, released from prison, begins planning an expedition to Guiana in search of El Dorado. With established Spanish settlements in the area, Ralegh's expedition unsettled the court which sought lasting peace with Spain.
The Catholic Church places Nicolaus Copernicus's De revolutionibus, 1543, on its list of prohibited books.

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