
Cleveland Museum of Art
Portrait of King Charles II of England
Philippe de ChampaigneLinkedCulture matchlcp-b39df32bf24f
- Date
- 1653
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Culture
- France, 17th century
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 135875
From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
Charles II (1630–1685) fled England in 1651 during the English civil war and commissioned this portrait during his exile in France. Charles II never fought on the battlefield, but he was the last British monarch to wear a full suit of armor, which represented his rank and status. The king gestures to the sea beyond the Dover cliffs, and the waiting fleet reveals his intention to return to England, which he did in 1660. Charles is wearing a typical French cuirassier's armor. Meant for cavalry, the style indicates it was made around 1630 and was likely a gift as Charles would have been an infant at the time it was created.
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Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Collection
- Provenance
- Jules Feral (sale: Paris, Hotel Drouot, May 30, 1903, as portrait of James II by Lely); [E. Gimpel and Wildenstein, New York]; Stanley Mortimer, New York (sale: Parke-Bernet, December 2, 1944, no. 85, illus. p. 57); [Duveen Brothers, Inc., New York]. The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Fund, 1959.
Part of a LinkedCulture topic
18th-19th Century European Portrait MiniaturesThese objects are predominantly portrait miniatures and small-scale portrait paintings from Central European and Russian courts, created between the 18th and 19th centuries using techniques such as watercolor on ivory, g
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