KING CHARLES I ~ AFTER SIR ANTHONY VAN DYCK

Code: H150

Dimensions:

This important and well executed portrait shows the King in full face position in armour , based upon portraits of Charles I (1600-1649) by Sir Anthony Van Dyck, example: ‘Charles I, Three Positions, 1635-1636’.

As with almost all of Charles’ portraits, numerous repetitions were made to satisfy the demand for the King’s picture in support of him during English civil war (1642 51), and copied by English artists after his death.

Provenance: Old label on frame verso- ‘From the Fairfax Collection*, Leeds Castle’. Bought at Christies in 18 – -, at the sale of Mr. Hughes’s collection (of Winchester) by Sir Thomas Phillipps**, Bart of Middle Hill’

*According to an old label the portrait was from the Fairfax collection, Leeds Castle which passed into the hands of the Fairfax family in 1690, through Catherine Culpeper’s marriage to Thomas, 5th Lord Fairfax. In 1745, their son, the 6th Lord Fairfax, sailed for Virginia to manage his estates and settled there for life. The Castle then passed to his brother Robert the 7 th Lord Fairfax (1707–1793), who held the castle for 46 years, and spent large sums refurbishing the reception rooms in the main house for his royal guests. He died at the castle in 1793 without an heir, and penniless