id: 135875
accession number: 1959.38
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1959.38
updated: 2023-03-20 14:14:13.082000
Portrait of King Charles II of England, 1653. Philippe de Champaigne (French, 1602–1674). Oil on canvas; 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.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Collection 1959.38
title: Portrait of King Charles II of England
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1653
creation date earliest: 1653
creation date latest: 1653
current location: 210A Armor Court
creditline: The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Collection
copyright:
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culture: France, 17th century
technique: oil on canvas
department: European Painting and Sculpture
collection: P - French 17th Century
type: Painting
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
* Philippe de Champaigne (French, 1602–1674) - artist
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measurements: 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.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
inscription: Inscribed lower center: "A°.1653"
translation:
remark:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Carolina Charter Tercentenary Exhibition
opening date: 1963-03-23T05:00:00
Carolina Charter Tercentenary Exhibition. North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC (organizer) (March 23-April 28, 1963).
title: Style, Truth and the Portrait
opening date: 1963-10-01T04:00:00
Style, Truth and the Portrait. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 1-November 19, 1963).
title: La Peinture Francaise dans les Collections Americaines
opening date: 1966-05-13T04:00:00
La Peinture Francaise dans les Collections Americaines. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux, F-33000 Bordeaux, France (organizer) (May 13-September 15, 1966).
title: A Pageant of Canada: The European Contribution to the Iconography of Canadian History
opening date: 1967-10-27T04:00:00
A Pageant of Canada: The European Contribution to the Iconography of Canadian History. National Gallery of Canada (organizer) (October 27, 1967-January 19, 1968).
title: Real Prints: Reproduction or Invention
opening date: 1987-04-07T04:00:00
Real Prints: Reproduction or Invention. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 7-May 17, 1987).
title: The Paston Treasure: Microcosm of the Known World
opening date: 2018-02-15T05:00:00
The Paston Treasure: Microcosm of the Known World. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT (organizer) (February 15-May 27, 2018).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* Pittsburg, Carnegie Insitute, 1951: "French Painting 1100-1900," cat. no. 68, illus.
Paris, Orangerie des Tuilleries, 1952: "Philippe de Champaigne," cat. no. 28 (incorrectly gives duke as Grafton as ex collection).
Ghent, Museum of Fine Arts, 1952: "Philippe de Champaigne," cat. no. 28, illus. p. 16.
New York, Duvee Brothers, 1952: "French Art in Painting and Sculpture of the Eighteenth Century," cat. no. 7.
CMA Dec. 1959: "Year in Review," Bull., p. 230.
Raleigh, North Carolina Museum of Art, 1963: "Carolina Charter Tercentenary Exhibition," cat. no. 64, pl. 64, repr. color on cover.
Musée de Bordeaux, France 1966: "La Peinture Française dans les Collections Américaines," cat. no. 5, illus.
Ottawa, The National Gallery of Canada, October 1967-January 1968: "The European Contribution to the Iconography of Canadian History," cat. no. 36, pl. XV (color).
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT (2/15/2108 – 5/27/2018): "The Paston Treasure: Microcosm of the Known World"
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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.
date:
footnotes:
citations:
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fun fact:
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.
digital description:
wall description:
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.
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Cleveland Museum of Art, “17th Century French Painting Acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art,” April 2, 1959, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
page number:
url: https://archive.org/details/cmapr0364
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page number: Reproduced: p. 118
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n142
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
page number: Reproduced: p. 118
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n142
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page number: Reproduced: p. 171
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n191
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982.
page number: Mentioned: p. 57-59; Reproduced: p. 58
url:
Fliegel, Stephen N. "An English Pikeman's Armor from the Severance Collection." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 81, no. 7 (1994): 252-67.
page number: Reproduced: p. 262; Mentioned: p. 262-63, 267
url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161462
Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 189
url:
Fils, Nathan. "Phillipe de Champaigne (French, 1602-1674) King Charles II of England, 1653." In The Paston Treasure: Microcosm of the Known World. Andrew Moore, et al, 518-519. New Haven : Yale Center for British Art ; Norwich : Norfolk Museums Service ; New Haven ; London : Yale University Press, 2018.
page number: Mentioned: p. 518; Reproduced: p. 519
url:
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.38/1959.38_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.38/1959.38_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.38/1959.38_full.tif