Charles I: King and Collector at Royal Academy of Arts

The Royal Academy of Arts in London has reunited for the first time since Cromwell's republic the extraordinary art collection of Charles I, who was beheaded on January 30, 1649 outside Whitehall Palace. The exhibition 'Charles I: King and Collector' brings together paintings, sculptures, miniatures, and tapestries that the king amassed, including masterpieces from the Gonzaga collection of Mantua, which he acquired at a low price. Works by Titian, Tintoretto, Bronzino, Bernini, Orazio and Artemisia Gentileschi, Velázquez, Rubens, Hals, Holbein the Younger, Gossaert, Dürer, and van Dyck are on display. Van Dyck, who became a court painter and baronet, is particularly well represented. After Charles's execution, the collection was dispersed by the republicans and sold mainly to the French and Spanish royal families, forming the core of the Louvre and the Prado. The exhibition runs until April 15, 2018 at Burlington House, Piccadilly.