King Charles I

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King Charles I

by Sir Henry Halford, 1st Bt
pencil, 1813
5 1/4 in. x 4 3/8 in. (133 mm x 111 mm)
Purchased, 1928
Primary Collection
NPG 2189a

Sitterback to top

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

Artistback to top

This portraitback to top

[illustration]
© Trustees of the British Museum

Meditations among the Tombs by George Cruikshank, published 1 May 1813

From left to right: Sir Henry Halford, King Henry VIII, King Charles I, The Prince Regent, later King George IV, Sir John McMahon, The Devil.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Piper, David, Catalogue of Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery, 1625-1714, 1963, p. 64
  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 116

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1813back to top

Current affairs

Machine breaking Luddite Riots end with seventeen executions in York. Radical John Cartwright's subsequent tour of the manufacturing districts has some success in quelling Luddite discontent with the foundation of the Hampden reform club network across the country.
East India Company is deprived of monopoly over trade with India.

Art and science

Millenarian prophet Joanna Southcott, made famous by her visions of the second coming of Christ, announces herself 'with child' by the Holy Ghost.
Jane Austen publishes Pride and Prejudice.

International

Victorious Battle of St Pierre near Bayonne led by General Rowland Hill.
Battle of Leipzig ends in defeat for Napoleon.
Wellington's victory at Vittoria leads to British invasion of Southern France.
Americans capture and burn Toronto, defeat British in Battle of Lake Erie and recapture Detroit.

Tell us more back to top

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Matthew Paul Bond

30 March 2017, 17:16

What I do know of this drawing is that it would have been sketched later than the date 1813 as the coffin and contents of Charles I remains where not exhumed until 1820 when space was being sought for the burial of George III at the St George's chapel at Windsor where Charles I is laid beside the remains of Henry VIII and his third wife Jane Seymour. What they found was King Charles's well persevered head which bore a very striking likeness of the Van Dyke portraits of the King.

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