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Constance Barbara (née Clarke), Lady Baird (later Lady Kennedy) by Henry Walter ('H. Walter') Barnett

Meet the King and Queen and their ‘Principalle Paynter’

The story of Sir Anthony van Dyck’s meteoric rise to fame in Britain would be incomplete without reference to his foremost patrons, King Charles I and his French queen, Henrietta Maria. King Charles was one of the most knowledgeable and enthusiastic patrons and collectors of art of all British monarchs. Having finally enticed the internationally-famous artist into the country in 1632, and hoping that van Dyck might establish his home and studio in London thereafter, the King immediately began commissioning portraits of himself and his family from the artist, and showered him with favours.…

By Emily Burns, Assistant Curator: Van Dyck

21 October 2015

eather and silk embroidered gloves, The Glove Collection Trust, Courtesy of the Fashion Museum, Bath and North East Somerset Council

Should We Remember The Fifth Of November?

The festivities of Halloween and Guy Fawkes Night give this time of year a distinctly macabre feel. Children dressed as ghouls and the spectacle of the Guy being thrown on to the bonfire are surreal interruptions to the normal routines of our lives. But this year, the sense of disquiet that they may evoke has become a regular feature of my work.…

By Rab MacGibbon, Associate Curator

30 October 2013

The Hearse of Henry, Prince of Wales by William Hole, 1612 © The Trustees of the British Museum

Rediscovering Henry’s ‘body’

One of the most memorable visits I made during research for the exhibition was to see a distinctly dilapidated object at Westminster Abbey. Shortly after his death – probably from typhoid fever, at the age of 18 – an effigy of the prince was made to be carried on his coffin in his funeral procession in December 1612. It had originally consisted of a carved wooden body, padded out probably with straw inside a fabric ‘skin’, which was dressed in the robes he had worn when he was created Prince of Wales. The face and hands were probably made of wax, and the whole thing was regarded as so life-like that its first arrival at the Abbey elicited a huge outbreak of weeping among the mourners.…

By Catharine MacLeod, Senior Curator, 17th Century Collections

25 October 2012

Henry, Prince of Wales, by Isaac Oliver, c. 1610-12,The Royal Collection Photo: Supplied by Royal Collection Trust / © HM Queen Elizabeth II 2012

In Search of the Lost Prince?

Over the last couple of years much of my time has been spent tracking down and researching objects associated with Prince Henry, the son of James VI of Scotland and I of England, the boy who, had he lived, would have become King Henry IX. Henry is now a largely forgotten figure, but in his lifetime, and for some time afterwards, he was seen as the ideal Renaissance prince.…

By Catharine MacLeod, Senior Curator, 17th Century Collections

11 October 2012