Charles II with the Royal Oak

Many royal portraits were made without the input or knowledge of the sitter. Unlike state portraits or formal commissions, popular portraits can reflect how the wider public saw a monarch.

This portrait presents the head of Charles II (r.1660–85), surrounded by crowns, within a tree. It celebrates the famous escape of Charles II in Boscobel Wood, when the future King hid from Parliamentarian soldiers in the branches of a great tree after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Following the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the Royal Oak became a popular symbol of patriotism.