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1 of 253523 objects
The Three Eldest Children of Charles I Nov 1635-Mar 1636
Oil on canvas | 133.8 x 151.7 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 404403
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Earlier in 1635 Van Dyck had painted a group of the Queen’s eldest children, to be sent to her sister, Christina, Duchess of Savoy, in exchange for portraits of the Duchess’s children. However, the dispatch of the paintings was delayed and it was reported that the King was ‘faché contre le painter Vandec’ (‘angry with the painter Van Dyck’) because his eldest son was shown still wearing skirts (as young boys did at this date) rather than the more grown-up and impressive breeches. It may partly have been to placate the King that Van Dyck completed this more adult group, presumably painted between the end of November 1635 and 25 March 1636.
In this second design Prince Charles is wearing breeches and the children are accompanied by two King Charles spaniels. The backcloth is a richly embroidered Italian velvet. The colours in the costumes are opulent: a deep gold, contrasting with a rose pink and very blue note in the whites. The dogs are painted with remarkable fluency and a touching relationship is established between the two little boys.
This was a very popular design and numerous copies were made of the painting.
Inscribed:REGIS MAGNAE BRITANIAE / PROLES / PRINCEPS CAROLVS NATVS 29 MAY 1630./ IACOBVS DVXEBORACENCIS NATVS 14 OCT:1633 / ET FILIA PRINCEPS MARIA NATA 4 NO: 1631 and signed and dated...,PER AN VAN DYCK EQ. / ANNO 1635Provenance
Probably painted for Henrietta Maria; sold from Somerset House to Colonel Webb for £60 on 25 October 1649 (no 133); recovered at the Restoration and listed in the Great Ante-chamber to the New Lodgings at Whitehall 1688 (no 155); after a time at Kensington Palace the painting was moved the Buckingham Palace, where it appears in the Second Drawing Room or 'Warm Room' in Zoffany's conversation piece of 1765 (RCIN 404709) and Pyne's illustrated Royal Residences of 1819 (RCIN 922143).
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Creator(s)
Commissioner(s)
Subject(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
133.8 x 151.7 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
152.5 x 171.1 x 7.8 cm (frame, external)
Other number(s)
Alternative title(s)
Charles II when a Prince (1630-85), James II when Duke of York (1633-1701) and Princess Mary, later Princess of Orange (1631-60)
Featured in
ExhibitionIn Fine Style: The Art of Tudor and Stuart Fashion : The Queen's Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse
Traces changing tastes in fashionable attire in Great Britain in the 16th and 17th centuries.