Charles I: King and Collector Hardcover – February 27, 2018

Tremendous exhibition, excellent scholarship.

This exquisite, lavishly illustrated book explores the ill-fated King Charles I as both king and collector of incredible, beautiful art! The greatest passion of Charles's' turbulent and dramatic life was his passion for art and the paintings he amassed over his lifetime up to the outbreak of Civil War in 1642. Charles artistic fondness stemmed from his mother Queen Anne of Denmark and his elder brother the short-lived Henry, Prince of Wales, he was fortunate to inherit the collections of both his mother and brother! However, his superb collection of magnificent paintings and sculptures were derived from a period of just over seventeen years between 1625 and 1642. He of course patronised Sir Anthony Van Dyck whom he created court painter in 1632. Charles's' artistic taste was breath-taking in particular he loved Raphael, Titian, Mantua and Reubens. But he loved renaissance art above all others! Charles political short-failings did not in the least deter the king from creating a beautiful, magnificent collection of art which has never been surpassed in England before or since his death upon the scaffold in 1649. After the kings death the collection was sold by the new Republican regime and although many pieces remain in the royal collection it is a fraction of the whole collection put together by Charles in his lifetime.This wonderful book commissioned by the Royal academy of Arts has put together again Charles's collection for the first time in three centuries. This epic book has great pictures of all the art and treasures amassed by Charles and explains their story and how they became part of this incredible and remarkable collection. This book is expensive but so worth it! with different specialists explaining the collection and about Charles the man himself so often written about and yet so completely misunderstood! Reading this book will reveal Charles I in a way rarely shown by historians.! I loved this book so much and the beautiful illustrations of this fabulous collection will leave you speechless! its just one hell of a story!

I am due to see the exhibition this week, so I got my book early to find out what's on those sumptuous walls at the RA. I am really looking forward to this. Whilst not an apologist for Charles I, you have to admire his taste which is so well documented and illustrated in this volume. My copy arrived with minor damage to the spine and bottom right corner as though it had been dropped at some point. But there was no way I was going to send it back. I am sure it will be well thumbed by the time I have had a chance to absorb this once in a lifetime assemblage from the major galleries from around the world who have been so generous in letting their prize possessions return to the court of their patronage. Well done everyone. A fitting testament.

This is a book to treasure and return to! I bought it as preparation for attending the exhibition at the Royal Academy of the same name, but it deserves to stand alone. It is meticulously researched, with clarity and accessibility brought to the subject matter. Beautifully presented, it is a feast for the eye and spirit, as was the exhibition. I longed to provide Charles with a wise counsellor to direct his thought to securing his throne as effectively as amassing his art collection.

Happy to see the great Art Collection at the Exhibition. The full page reproductions are gorgeous. The Essays most informative - oddly - all you get by way of catalogue is a load of very small reproductions - so small that they can't actually be seen properly without a magnifying glass.

Of the quality one would expect from an RA exhibition catalogue.Felt bad not buying it direct from RA, but it was cheaper here.