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| follower of Jacopo Bassano Miraculous Appearance of a Female Saint ca. 1540-90 oil on canvas (acquired from an unknown source by Charles I) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
"A female figure floating in the sky against an aureole of light is witnessed by a young girl in the landscape, seen in a contemporary red dress at lower left. Directly below the saint a large crowd is gathered, including two older figures dressed in black, who may be the girls' parents. On a hill to the right is a small church or oratory. Although the painting has been repeatedly described in inventories as an 'Assumption of the Virgin' this seems unlikely given that the figure in the sky goes unnoticed by all but the young girl. It seems instead to show the kneeling girl experiencing some kind of vision. The figure in the sky may be the Virgin, but it is more likely that she is a local saint."
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| Raphael and Giulio Romano Holy Family (La Perla) 1519-20 oil on panel (purchased by Charles I from the Gonzaga collection in Mantua - sold after the King's execution to agents for Philip IV of Spain) Museo del Prado, Madrid |
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| Raphael The Miraculous Draught of Fishes ca. 1515-16 bodycolor on paper mounted on canvas (purchased by Charles I when Prince of Wales in 1623) Royal Collection, on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum |
"Full-scale cartoon for one of a series of tapestries commissioned by Pope Leo X for the Sistine Chapel. Two boats are shown on the water. On the left Christ is seated, with the Apostles Peter and Andrew in astonishment before him. Their boat is full of fish. The second boat shows two fishermen hauling in their nets full of fish while another steers the boat."
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| Jan Gossaert Adam and Eve ca. 1520 oil on panel (presented to Charles I by the Dutch States-General in 1636) Royal Collection, on display at the National Gallery, London |
"Jan Gossaert (ca. 1478-1532) created numerous versions of Adam and Eve, of which this is the largest, with the figures almost life-size. In 1668 John Evelyn in his English translation of Fréart's Idea of the Perfection of Painting criticized Gossaert's lack of fidelity to the Bible, particularly in his inclusion of an 'artificial stone fountain carved with imagerys' and 'navels on the bellys of our first parents.' Adam and Eve are shown at the moment after they have eaten the forbidden fruit (the apple in Eve's left hand has a bite-mark)."
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| Palma il Giovane Expulsion of the Vices of the Church ca. 1580-84 oil on canvas (acquired in Venice through Nathaniel Garrett by Charles I - sold in England after the King's execution, but recovered at the Restoration) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
"This painting was originally arched and was acquired without a frame, suggesting that it was originally set in the wall of a Venetian scuola or similar building. It has been dated to early in Palma's career, when he had completed major commissions for the Doge's Palace and was gaining favour with ecclesiastical patrons because of his ability to represent Counter Reformation doctrine in a direct and understandable form."
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| Cristofano Allori Judith with the Head of Holofernes 1613 oil on canvas (purchased by Charles I from the Gonzaga collection in Mantua - sold in England after the King's execution, but recovered at the Restoration) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
"According to his biographer Baldinucci, Allori painted this work in part as an autobiographical account of his love affair with Maria de Giovanni Mazzafirri, which ended badly. The figure of Judith, Baldinucci claimed, resembles 'La Mazzafirra,' the servant in the background her mother, and the severed head of Holofernes is a portrait of the artist himself. When the poet Giovanni Battista Marino saw a version of this painting in Paris, he specifically read the work as autobiographical, commenting that Holofernes is killed twice, first by the darts of Cupid and second by the sword of Judith. Allori was by no means unique amongst his artistic contemporaries in his desire to make the story relevant to his own experience, and the picture belongs to a tradition in which artists included portraits within apocryphal narratives."
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| Caravaggio Calling of Saints Peter and Andrew ca. 1602-1604 oil on canvas (acquired in Italy through William Frizell by Charles I in 1637 - sold in England after the King's execution, but recovered at the Restoration) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Jan Mertens the Younger Calling of Saint Matthew ca. 1530-40 oil on panel (presented to Charles I by an unknown donor) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Annibale Carracci Agony in the Garden ca. 1596-97 oil on panel (first recorded in the Royal Collection during the reign of Charles I) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli Christ Child and the infant St John the Baptist embracing ca. 1533-40 oil on panel (acquired by Charles I and wrongly attributed to Parmigianino) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Jacopo Tintoretto Christ washing the feet of the Disciples 1548-49 oil on canvas (acquired through agents in Venice by Charles I - sold after the King's execution to agents for Philip IV of Spain) Museo del Prado, Madrid |
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| Jacopo Tintoretto Esther before Ahasuerus ca. 1546-47 oil on canvas (purchased by Charles I from the Gonzaga collection in Mantua - sold in England after the King's execution, but recovered at the Restoration) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
"King Ahasuerus's second wife, Esther, learns that the King's chief minister is plotting to have all the Jews in the Persian Empire massacred. Esther intercedes with the King and eventually he grants her request to spare her people."
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| Domenichino St Agnes ca. 1620 oil on canvas (purchased by Charles I from the Gonzaga collection in Mantua - sold in England after the King's execution, but recovered at the Restoration) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Domenico Fetti Sacrifice of Elijah before the Priests of Baal ca. 1621-22 oil on panel (purchased by Charles I from the Gonzaga collection in Mantua - sold in England after the King's execution, but recovered at the Restoration) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Domenico Fetti David with the Head of Goliath ca. 1620 oil on canvas (purchased by Charles I from the Gonzaga collection in Mantua - sold in England after the King's execution, but recovered at the Restoration) Royal Collection, Great Britain |