CHARLES I'S ART COLLECTION.   Term Paper ID:25263 Click to get this paper

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Paper Abstract: Examines 17th Cent. king's art collection as his greatest accomplishment. Paper Introduction: Charles I (r. 1625-49) was a poor statesman whose deep belief in the divine right of kings was adhered to with a stubbornness that eventually led him to the scaffold. His single greatest accomplishment, his art collection, was assembled in the service of that ideal notion of kingship and it was not allowed to stand as his memorial. Charles managed the kingdom badly, was a poor diplomat and politician, provided unsound leadership, and refused to recognize the implacable nature of changes in society. The arena in which he did excel was that of display. Despite the rebellions, the civil wars, the foreign wars, the struggles with Parliament, and, most of all, the stricken economy, Charles' reign was marked by splendid entertainments, costly show, and the assembling of one of the finest art collections in Europe. When added to the perception of Charles' popish tendencies, his Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Royal Heritage: The Story of Britain's Royal Builders and Collectors. Hisuncle Christian visited London in 1616 shortly after commissioning asculpture designed to symbolize "the apotheosis of Denmark's new role" asmaster of the Baltic (following the recent defeat of Sweden), and suchlessons in "the political use" of art were not lost on Charles (Howarth75). In April 1628 a ship set sail for England carrying numerous works byTitian, Andrea del Sarto, Caravaggio, Correggio, Giulio Romano, Tintoretto,Guido Reni, and many others while an envoy set off by land carrying moredelicate works by Correggio and Raphael. In the atmosphere of cultivated collecting the "principal cognoscentiof Whitehall," including Charles, also engaged in endless trading ofpaintings (Millar 35). These two major strands in the princes' education--the divine rightof kings and the aesthetic and practical appreciation of the arts--werecombined or, as Plumb puts it, "theory and art were married in them" (98).Henry, never as sophisticated a collector as Charles, was always eager fornew experiences. Atthe end of the room the dominant object was Van Dyck's equestrian portraitof the armed King. Several other majorTitians "were (incredibly) also offered" but were not taken once itappeared that the marriage negotiations were failing (Haskell 21 ). "Charles I and the Tradition of European Princely Collecting." The Late King's Goods: Collections, Possessions and Patronage of Charles I in the Light of the Commonwealth Sale Inventories. With such examples Charles rapidly developed a taste for collectingand considerable skill in judging art. The Rare Art Traditions: The History of Art Collecting and Its Linked Phenomena Wherever These Have Appeared. As early as 1621 he hadpurchased paintings "by such modern masters as Manfredi, Guido Reni andBaglione" and was to have a major influence on Charles in introducingcontemporary artists to his notice (Haskell 2 7). "Charles I's Collection of Pictures." The Late King's Goods: Collections, Possessions and Patronage of Charles I in the Light of the Commonwealth Sale Inventories. He was a shy boy whohad admired Henry immensely and emulated him in both his interest in artand his total belief in the divine right of kings. Charles, who was a connoisseur as well as a spendthrift, managed toassemble, in a very short time, a collection of High Renaissance, antique,and Baroque art that surpassed every collection in overall quality.Despite the breakup of the collection a great deal is known about itscontents because Charles had employed what was, in effect, the firstcurator and because the records of the Commonwealth sale have survived.Thus it is possible to see how, despite its short life, Charles'accumulation of art was the high point of seventeenth-century collecting. Works CitedAlsop, Joseph. The first important instance of hisconnoisseurship occurred when Lord Danvers acquired a Rubens as a gift forthe twenty-one-year-old Prince of Wales. Lord Arundel also traveled inGermany and Austria on diplomatic missions and his collection of paintingswas well balanced between northern and Italian works. The Earl of Pembroke, for example, traded paintingsby Giovanni Bellini and Parmigianino for the King's "little Judith whichwas then said to be by Raphael" (Millar 35). The £15, for the Mantua collection had, for example, been promisedat the exact moment that the Duke of Buckingham's force, fighting for theProtestants in France, was desperately in need of aid. New York: Macmillan, 1977.Plumb, J. In his lucid, forcefulThe Laws of Free Monarchies James cited Biblical authority for hisposition, proclaiming that "Kings are called Gods by the prophetical KingDavid, because they sit upon God his throne in earth" (quoted in Plumb 97). "Charles I, Sculpture and Sculptors." The Late King's Goods: Collections, Possessions and Patronage of Charles I in the Light of the Commonwealth Sale Inventories. Ed. Among the many works he saw, Titian'spainting had the greatest impact on Charles. 2 3-31.Howarth, David. They were correct in their judgment of the effect of Charles' artsexpenditures on the crown's budget. Informed of theguests' interest in art and collecting a special committee was formed toescort them through various collections during their five-month visit. Thus, "at one stroke" the "greatest assembly of Italian art" outsideItaly was created and by 1635, with his inherited paintings, earlierpurchases, and gifts, Charles "owned the finest collection of art everassembled by a British monarch" (Plumb 1 8). But Charles was usually guided by oldercollectors. Charles, the second son of James I and Anne of Denmark, was notraised to be king. Christian was skilled in the political uses of art in an age whenmonarchs understood collecting and patronage as an "advertisement ofprincely magnificence [and] princely knowledge and taste" (Lightbown 64). But the most important acquisition of Charles' career was thecollection of the Gonzaga princes of Mantua. No one took precedence over the king who dispensed earthly justice andensured social order. Though Charles attempted to purchase other smaller, but important,Italian collections he was only able to acquire a number of individualpictures. New York: Harper and Row, 1982.Haskell, Francis. Philip had what was, at thetime, the finest collection of paintings in Europe. Unfortunately Charles could not also summon a Parliament thatsubscribed to the view of himself that he shared with these "forraineEmperours." The power of his belief and the magnificence of its expressioncould not withstand greater forces in English society and Charles, and hiscollections, were cut off in their prime. Charles I (r. Villierswas "the chief of James I's beautiful male favorites" (Alsop 46 ). At St. The arena in which he did excel was that of display. Both Rubens and Van Dyck, for instance, had been extensivelyemployed by both Lord and Lady Arundel "well before being taken up by theKing" (Haskell 2 6). But thePuritan opponents of the King's absolutist personal rule could only see theluxurious extravagance of a very costly court where the King and Queenseemed to have no interest in the dangerous state of the economy. . "Aspects of British Collecting: I Early Patrons and Collectors." Apollo 114 (1981): 282-297. When added to the perception ofCharles' popish tendencies, his Catholic wife, his intransigence andmismanagement, and the harsh economic times the expenditure of substantialamounts for such frivolous purposes added fuel to the flames of opposition. The Prince was now launched on his career as a patron--acareer most impressively fulfilled by his important sponsorship of Rubens'brilliant pupil Van Dyck. But, though he was correct in mostrespects, Burlamachi was unable to see how, for Charles, "theseacquisitions were an arm of policy; a necessary adjunct of his greatness asa Renaissance prince" (Howarth 76). In negotiations for his potential marriage to thePrincess Caterina de' Medici he requested that Florentine paintingsaccompany table bronzes from the studio of Giovanni da Bologna. 1625-49) was a poor statesman whose deep belief in thedivine right of kings was adhered to with a stubbornness that eventuallyled him to the scaffold. As Alsop notes, Lord Arundel "quite ruthlessly pressur[ed]the City Fathers of Nuremberg to make a state gift" to Charles of a majorDürer Self Portrait and "also extorted a portrait of the artist's father"(462). London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1977.Schroth, Sarah Walker. And even in those instances where the King was tobe admired for the breadth of his learning and the depth of hisunderstanding the glory of his rule was also incorporated. "Charles I, the duque de Lerma and Veronese's Edinburgh Mars and Venus." Burlington Magazine 139 (1997): 548-5 .Sutton, Denys. Thecontemporary writer Henry Peacham described how Charles had "amplytestified a Royall liking of ancient statues, by causing a whole army ofold forraine Emperours, Captaines, and Senators all at once to land on hiscoasts, to come and doe him homage" (quoted in Alsop 462). In the slightly less practical realm, however, Charles had theexample of several prominent connoisseurs and collectors. Buckingham may have been driven to collect by a desire to competewith Lord Arundel, a grave and serious collector from a well-establishedfamily, who had even visited Italy (in the company of the influentialarchitect and designer Inigo Jones)--an act "unusual among men of his rank"in the seventeenth century (Sutton 288). This was to change in 1623when the Prince of Wales and Buckingham embarked on what Sutton calls their"madcap visit to Madrid" which, traveling incognito and unannounced, theyundertook in an effort to secure the hand of the Infanta Maria, sister ofPhilip IV of Spain, for the future king (294). The purchase of the Gonzagacollection was the single greatest art transaction to date and "ironicallythe only other transfer of works of art on a similar scale in theseventeenth century was to be the dispersal of most of those same picturesand sculptures within twenty years or so" (Haskell 214). Despite therebellions, the civil wars, the foreign wars, the struggles withParliament, and, most of all, the stricken economy, Charles' reign wasmarked by splendid entertainments, costly show, and the assembling of oneof the finest art collections in Europe. In pursuit of completenessCharles, like most avid collectors of the era, was willing to pay dearlyfor the exceedingly rare works of Michelangelo and Leonardo. Arthur MacGregor. Buckingham spent lavishly on the arts, buying "quickly and recklessly,though often with striking results"--purchasing, for instance, Rubens'collection of paintings, drawings and antiquities in 1627 (Sutton 288).Buckingham was also an adventurous collector. His elder brother Henry, Prince of Wales died in 1612,however, and Charles' prospects were changed forever. 53-72.Millar, Oliver. Rubens promised to paint another version entirely by his ownhand. The purchase of pictures and sculpture"periodically created serious financial problems for" the King (Howarth76). In his response Charles had displayed the "characteristic motive ofthe Late Mannerist and Baroque collector, to have something from the handof a great artist, rather than merely another official bust of himself as aheroic monarch" (Lightbown 67). Thus in oneof his exchanges Charles ceded to a French nobleman the exquisite Holbeinportrait of Erasmus and an important Titian in exchange "'for a present'"of Leonardo's St. In 163 the Mantegnas, otherpaintings, and much of the Gonzaga sculpture were also acquired by CharlesI. During this period he withdrew into the "ideal arcadiancourt where peace and virtue reigned"--a genuinely virtuous place, utterlyopposed to the immorality of his father's court (Plumb 113). John the Baptist (Millar 35). Other gifts constituted acts of international diplomacy. After the Gonzaga purchase he bought fewer Old Masters andconcentrated on commissions to contemporary painters, including Van Dyckand many others. Carleton's taste forVenetian art was a major influence on Charles as well as on GeorgeVilliers, Duke of Buckingham and Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel. The Queen's Pictures. Charles' collecting of art worked as policy in several ways. In 1623 the financiallydistressed Duke Vincenzo II of Mantua approached Lady Arundel, who wastraveling in Italy, when "he had decided to jettison [the] famouscollection" (Howarth 75). Sir DudleyCarleton served as ambassador to both Venice and the Low Countries and wascommissioned to purchase works of art for collectors. Negotiations for the Gonzaga collection lasted for some time.Vincenzo and his counselors were mistrustful of Charles' intermediaries andfeared an adverse reaction on the part of their people--and the sale didprovoke "bitter indignation . The King'sprincipal moneylender, Filippo Burlamachi, believed that Charles' artpurchases were frivolous and dangerous. Even the Church of England was a mere reflection ofdivinely sanctioned role of its head--the British monarch. Although by 1621 the Prince of Wales was reputed to possess a finecollection and a particular taste for High Renaissance Venetian painting,it is unlikely that his love of Venetian works had been "matched by theopportunity to possess them" (Haskell 21 ). By the time Charles ascended to the throne in 1625 he was betrothedto Henrietta Maria of France and he finally had "the opportunity to collecton a grand scale and to act as a patron" of the first rank without relyingon wedding negotiations to supply him with paintings (Sutton 294). Charles managed thekingdom badly, was a poor diplomat and politician, provided unsoundleadership, and refused to recognize the implacable nature of changes insociety. Herbrother Christian IV was engaged in "establishing one of the most ambitiousand splendid Renaissance courts of northern Europe" and Henry's andCharles' love of art derived from "the Danish side of the family" (Howarth75). At themost basic level, for example, the purchase of the Gonzaga collection hadbeen a defeat for the Duke of Tuscany, the Queen of France, and CardinalRichelieu--each of whom had wanted some or all of the collection. London: Alistair McAlpine-Oxford UP, 1989. But Charles' time for sponsoring old and new art began todraw to a close by the late 163 s. . Other gifts were, however, givenless willingly. Her response was to ask for a model of the DucalPalace (a common item for collectors in an age when most of them did littletraveling) accompanied by a description of the contents of its rooms. Onthese tours the Prince "attempted, with varying degrees of success, toacquire works of art" (Schroth 548). 73-113.Lightbown, Ronald. Asking, gifts were offered to Charles by loyal subjects, such as Sir RobertKilligrew who gave Charles two Holbeins, and by relatives abroad, such ashis sister, the Queen of Bohemia, who gave him a Visscher portrait ofErasmus. Accordingly, some works, such asMantegna's Triumphs of Caesar series and the antique sculpture, were heldback. Like most collectors of the period Charles also purchased entirecollections, such as the works owned by William Frizell which he acquiredin 1637. Ed. He had disbanded Parliament in 1629 inthe face of very menacing opposition and refused to call another for thenext eleven years. His single greatest accomplishment, his artcollection, was assembled in the service of that ideal notion of kingshipand it was not allowed to stand as his memorial. on a scale that they had not evenimagined possible" (Haskell 214). He had chosen long ago to ignore or tofight against what "many men of influence felt they wanted of monarchy"since any hint of participatory government was anathema to a divinely-appointed sovereign (Plumb 1 9). ThePope directed Cardinal Barberini, the most important collector in Rome, toselect works for Charles "as part of the Papacy's policy of cultivatingCharles in the hope that he would prove sympathetic to Catholicism" (Sutton296). Arthur MacGregor. H. Philip owned numerousexamples of Titian's works and two, The Emperor Charles V with a Hound andthe so-called Venus of Pardo, were given to Charles. James I was one of themost eloquent of all spokesmen for this position. London: Alistair McAlpine-Oxford UP, 1989. And, though Charlesoften placed aesthetic criteria above more practical concerns, he wascertainly not averse to using art to construct a glorious heroic image ofhimself. Arthur MacGregor. Charles refused the picture onthe grounds that it was a studio production which had merely been touchedup by Rubens. He clearly adhered to the notion ofaesthetic value as a consideration of equal (or greater) importance to the"social, decorative, or religious significance" of the works he collected(Lightbown 67). Though James had little interest in the arts Anne had an excellenteye and a cultivated interest in the visual and performing arts. The replacement work was never painted buta short time later Charles further demonstrated his modern ideas aboutpatronage when he solicited Rubens, in the most flattering terms, toprovide him with a Self-Portrait. In this complicated presentation Charles was shown "inthe Imperial and Venetian traditions of which as sovereign and patron hewas heir" (Millar 49). ThusCharles was provided with a description of one of the most famouscollections of Italian and antique art, "the results of a century'sdiscerning patronage by the Gonzaga family," and he was eager to acquireeverything he could (Plumb 113). Arundel also introduced the custom of collecting drawings (whichhe adopted from Italian collectors) and became a serious collector ofantique sculpture--even dispatching agents to the Near East in search ofantique marbles--"a commitment which was never fully to be matched by thatof Charles" (Haskell 2 7). Ed. James' Palace, for instance, Charles' Gallery offered thevisitor a view of numerous Italian paintings including seven pictures eachby Titian and Giulio Romano in which the Roman emperors were portrayed. In addition to the sight of such works Charles was also stronglyinfluenced by the attitudes of patrons and collectors at the court. Lady Arundel, aconnoisseur and patron in her own right, may have been the motivating forcebehind the acquisition of Venetian paintings, which appealed less to herhusband. Charles'agent in Italy also described the awe in which Charles was now held bythose who came to see the great assembly of objects destined for London.The possession of such collections was also a necessary adjunct of hisposition insofar as it placed him on a level with other rulers. Thepaintings did not materialize, but the sight of the small bronzes iscredited as a "critical moment in awakening an appreciation of sculpture"in the eleven-year-old Charles who is known to have coveted them (Howarth74). Charles'early interest in collecting had received, after all, an important stimulusfrom his view of Philip IV's magnificent collection. He hadentered Royal service as a page and, by the time of the king's death, "wasthe most powerful, as well as the richest, duke in the kingdom" (Plumb 99). The pictures were nominally sent to the Catholic Queen but, as shenoted, she would never have been able to keep them anyway "as the Kingwould steal them from her" (Haskell 221). London: Alistair McAlpine-Oxford UP, 1989. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.