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| Anthony van Dyck Portrait of George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and Lord Francis Villiers 1635 oil on canvas (painted for Charles I) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
"The sitters were the sons of the murdered Duke of Buckingham and were brought up by Charles I with his own children. The young Duke and his brother served in the Civil War, and Lord Francis, praised by the poet Andrew Marvell for his 'inimitable handsome-ness,' was killed near Kingston-on-Thames. After the Restoration the Duke was one of the most brilliant and notorious members of the court of Charles II. Painted for Charles I, the portrait was hung near that of their sister, Lady Mary Villiers, in the Gallery at St. James's Palace. Horace Walpole said that 'nothing can exceed the nature, lustre, and delicacy of this sweet picture,' which he regarded as 'one of the finest of this master.'"
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| Gerrit van Honthorst Portrait of the family of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham 1628 oil on canvas (commissioned by Charles I or otherwise acquired shortly after Buckingham's death) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
"This group portrait of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham and his family was painted in the same year that the Duke was assassinated. Charles I's closest confidant and a powerful figure at court, the Duke was a lavish collector and patron of foreign artists, including Peter Paul Rubens and Honthorst. The Duchess is placed centrally, in front of a rose bush, and smiles at the viewer. Her baby son (George, soon to be second Duke) grasps at flowers presented by his sister, Mary Villiers (later Duchess of Richmond). The arrangement of mother and children is probably intended to recall images of the Virgin Mary, Christ Child, and Infant St. John the Baptist."
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| Artemisia Gentileschi Self-portrait as the Allegory of Painting (La Pittura) ca. 1638-39 oil on canvas (painted while the artist worked in England at the invitation of Charles I - sold in England after the King's execution, but recovered at the Restoration) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
"Artemisia wears a brown apron over her green dress and seems to be leaning on a stone slab used for grinding pigments, in which the reflection of her left arm is visible. On one level the works depicts an allegorical figure of Painting, and was described as such in Charles I's inventory. Artemisia follows the standard emblematic handbook of the period, the Iconologia of Cesare Ripa, cleverly identifying herself as the female personification of painting – something her male contemporaries could never do. The work is also, however, a particularly sophisticated and accomplished self-portrait. The position in which Artemisia has portrayed herself would have been extremely difficult for the artist to capture. In order to view her own image, she may have arranged two mirrors on either side of herself, facing each other."
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| Rembrandt Portrait of an old woman (called The Artist's Mother) ca. 1627-29 oil on panel (presented to Charles I by Sir Robert Kerr) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Jan van Belcamp Portrait of Louis XIII, King of France 1636 oil on canvas (probably painted for Charles I) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
"This picture may be one associated with a warrant dating from 13 January 1636 to pay £300 to Belcamp for his services and expenses on a visit to France at Charles I's command, in order to paint for the King portraits of Louis XIII and his Queen. It seems likely that Belcamp copied existing portraits and did not have a sitting from Louis XIII himself."
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| Michiel van Miereveld Portrait of an old man with a shell ca. 1606 oil on panel (inherited by Charles I from his deceased elder brother, Prince Henry - sold to Sir Peter Lely after the King's execution, but recovered at the Restoration) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| François Clouet Miniature portrait of Charles IX, King of France, as a boy ca. 1561 watercolor and bodycolor on vellum (wrongly believed by Charles I to represent the sitter's brother, Francis II, first husband of Mary Queen of Scots, who was Charles's grandmother) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Peter Paul Rubens Self-portrait 1623 oil on panel (commissioned by the Earl of Danby as a gift for Charles I) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Antonis Mor Portrait of Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy ca. 1555-60 oil on panel (acquired by Charles I) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
"This bold portrait shows the duke aged about twenty five. Painted life-size in three-quarter, he wears an ornate suit of armour and the collar of the Golden Fleece, of which he was made a knight in 1546. A strikingly similar suit of armour surviving in the Waffensammlung at Vienna has been proved to have belonged to Emmanuel Philibert and is almost certainly that depicted in this portrait."
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| attributed to Odoardo Fialetti Portrait of Doge Giovanni Bembo ca. 1600-1625 oil on canvas (bequeathed by Sir Henry Wotton to Charles I - sold in England after the King's execution, but recovered at the Restoration) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Domenico Puligo Portrait of a Lady ca. 1520-25 oil on panel (sent from Rome in 1635 as a gift of Cardinal Francesco Barberini to Charles I) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| attributed to Girolamo Savoldo Portrait of a man with a hawk ca. 1510-15 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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| Hans Holbein Portrait of the printer Johannes Froben ca. 1522-23 oil on panel (purchased by the Duke of Buckingham and presented to Charles I - sold in England after the King's execution, but recovered at the Restoration) Royal Collection, Great Britain |
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| Titian The Allocution of Alonso d'Avalos, Marchese del Vasto, to his troops 1540-41 oil on canvas (purchased in Italy by agents for Charles I - sold after the King's execution to agents for Philip IV of Spain) Museo del Prado, Madrid |
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| David Baudringien Portrait of Henry Frederick, Prince of the Palatine (eldest son of Elizabeth of Bohemia, sister of Charles I) ca. 1629 oil on panel (originally owned by Charles I - restored to the Royal Collection in 2015) Royal Collection, Great Britain |