Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009195Portrait of King Charles II of England
Also known as: Charles II; Charles II, King of England
About the Artwork
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.
Inscriptions
Inscribed lower center: "A°.1653"
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.
Exhibition history
Carolina Charter Tercentenary Exhibition. North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC (organizer) (March 23-April 28, 1963). Style, Truth and the Portrait. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 1-November 19, 1963). La Peinture Francaise dans les Collections Americaines. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, F-33000 Bordeaux, France (organizer) (May 13-September 15, 1966). A Pageant of Canada: The European Contribution to the Iconography of Canadian History. National Gallery of Canada (organizer) (October 27, 1967-January 19, 1968). Real Prints: Reproduction or Invention. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 7-May 17, 1987). The Paston Treasure: Microcosm of the Known World. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT (organizer) (February 15-May 27, 2018).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Philippe de Champaigne (French, 1602–1674)
- Date
- 1653
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Framed: 182 x 141 x 15 cm (71 5/8 x 55 1/2 x 5 7/8 in.); Unframed: 129.5 x 97.2 cm (51 x 38 1/4 in.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Collection
- Accession no.
- 1959.38
More by Philippe de Champaigne in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00009195
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