ZT: Charles I - The Connoisseur Prince of Art

Some of the most significant and glorious art works associated with the British Royal Collection stem from the patronage of Charles I. Described by Rubens as ‘the greatest amateur of paintings among the princes of the world’ Charles I launched the high status of the Royal Collection into a new strata, establishing it in the same league as other notable European courts of the time.

His discerning taste and savvy propelled the collection to new heights with the inclusion of works by such greats as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titian, Correggio and Tintoretto. Charles I made spectacular purchases in Italy and the augmentation of great Renaissance works proved to be a highpoint in the history of the Collection.

Charles I collected two of the most important series of Art works ever acquired by a European Monarch and for that reason they deserve special mention in this months Royal Insight article. The Triumphs of Caesar by Andrea Mantegna and Raphael’s Acts of the Apostles tapestry cartoons. These works proved a catalyst for the serious development of the Royal Collection alongside masterpieces by Titian, the Venus del Pardo (now in the Louvre) and the Emperor Charles V with a Hound (now in the Prado). The latter two works were gifted to Charles I by the King of Spain and they seemingly set the standard for Charles’ later acquisitions by the renowned master, Titian (although many of Titians’ works along with those of Raphael and Rubens were sold off following Charles’ execution).

A knowledgeable collector and a discerning patron of the contemporary arts, Charles I developed a reputation for connoisseurship and thus attracted such distinguished painters to his London court as Rubens and Sir Anthony Van Dyck, (who was commissioned to paint the spectacular work, Charles I with M. de St Antoine.. Charles is portrayed on horseback in an unprecedented scale as a knight, a warrior and a ruler supreme in the tradition of antique and Renaissance equestrian monuments.

The prominent depiction of the crowned royal arms and the triumphal arch framing the armed King underscores his desire to portray a strong and eminent image of a great and supreme ruler on high. In contrasts the refined features of loose flowing hair and the sash of the Order of the Garter convey a chivalrous genteel knight. The painting provides us with the most enduring image of the Stuart court to date. Horsemanship was deemed the epitome of virtu. and here Pierre Antoine Bourdin, Seigneur de St Antoine, (riding master and equerry to Charles I) a master in the artful skill of horsemanship, carries the Kings helmet while gazing admiringly and reverently “up” at the King - a King who strongly believed in and advocated the Divine Right of Kings and so would have very much patronised the sketches for him to be on high (above the world and the people).

It is thought that the painting may have been intended to be positioned at the end of the Gallery at St. James Palace where its theatrical and propagandist effect would have impacted upon visitors. For much of the nineteenth century the painting hung at Windsor Castle: it is recorded in the Queen’s Presence Chamber and the Queen’s Ballroom (known as the Van Dyke Room in the master’s honour).

http://www.royalinsight.net/royal-splendour/charles-i-connoisseur-prince-art