Exhibition preview
On 29 May 1660, his 30th birthday, Charles II made his triumphant return to London and to the throne of England, ending more than a decade of austere Republican rule. Over the next 25 years the arts would play a critical role in reinforcing Charles' authority.
A selection of the items that were commissioned or acquired by Charles, as well as items returned to the collection following the Inter-regnum, are presented below.
John Michael Wright (1617-94)
Charles II (1630-1685)
Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-77)
The Coronation of Charles II
Henry Greenway (free 1648)
Alms dish
Johann Hass
The Exeter Salt
Orazio Gentileschi (Pisa 1563-London 1639)
A Sibyl
Michiel Jansz van Miereveld (Delft 1567-1641)
A Bearded Old Man with a Shell
Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525-1569)
Massacre of the Innocents
Georges de la Tour (1593-1652)
Saint Jerome
Maarten van Heemskerck (Heemskerk 1498-Haarlem 1574)
The Four Last Things
Lorenzo Lotto (Venice c. 1480-Loreto 1556)
Andrea Odoni
Paolo Veronese (1528-88)
The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine of Alexandria
Giulio Romano (Rome c. 1499-Mantua 1546)
Portrait of Margherita Paleologo
Titian (c. 1488-Venice 1576)
Madonna and Child in a Landscape with Tobias and the Angel
Antonio Verrio (c. 1639-1707)
The Sea Triumph of Charles II
Leonardo da Vinci (Vinci 1452-Amboise 1519)
Oak (Quercus robur) and dyer's greenweed (Genista tinctoria)
Leonardo da Vinci (Vinci 1452-Amboise 1519)
A bearded man in profile, confronted by a grotesque profile
Michelangelo Buonarroti (Caprese 1475-Rome 1564)
The head of the Virgin
English
Side table
Sir Peter Lely (1618-80)
Elizabeth Hamilton, Countess of Gramont (1641-1708)
Sir Peter Lely (1618-80)
Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland (ca 1641-1709)
After Thacker, Robert (fl.1670)
Prospectus Intra Cameram Stellatam
Jacob Huysmans (c. 1633-96)
Catherine of Braganza (1638-1705)
Abraham Blooteling (1640-90) after Sir Peter Lely (1618–1680)
Charles II
Anglo-Dutch School
The Lord Mayor's Water-Procession on the Thames
John Michael Wright (1617-94)
