Oil painting on oak panel, King Charles I of England and Queen Henrietta Maria. 17th century. Attributed to Gonzales Coques.

A double portrait of King Charles I of England, wearing the blue ribbon of the Order of the Garter, and his wife Queen Henrietta Maria who proffers a laurel wreath and holds an olive branch. On the table behind the King lay his crown, sceptre and orb. An opening in the curtain behind the couple reveals a landscape beyond.

Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncey Hare Townshend

Bequeathed by Rev. Chauncy Hare Townshend, 1868

'Chauncy Hare Townshend (1798-1868) was born into a wealthy family, only son of Henry Hare Townsend of Busbridge Hall, Godalming, Surrey. Educated at Eton and Trinity Hall, Cambridge (BA 1821). Succeeded to the family estates 1827, when he added 'h' to the Townsend name. He had taken holy orders, but while he always referred to himself as 'Rev.' on the title pages of his books, he never practised his vocation... . Very much a dilettante in the eighteenth-century sense, he moved in the highest social and literary circles; a great friend of Charles Dickens (he was the dedicatee of Great Expectations) with whom he shared a fascination of mesmerism... Bulwer Lytton described his life's 'Beau-deal of happiness' as 'elegant rest, travel, lots of money - and he is always ill and melancholy'. Of the many watercolours and British and continental oil paintings he bequeathed to the V&A, the majority are landscapes. He is the first identifiable British collector of early photographs apart from the Prince Consort, particularly landscape photography, and also collected gems and geological specimens.'

Ref : Parkinson, Ronald, Catalogue of British Oil Paintings 1820-1860. Victoria & Albert Museum, HMSO, London, 1990. p.xix.

Historical significance: This is a reduced copy after the original (now in the collection of the Archiepiscopal Castle and Gardens, Kromeríž, Czech Republic), painted in 1632 by Anthony van Dyck, to sit above the chimney in the drawing room in Somerset House, London. King Charles I had granted Somerset House to the Queen in 1626 as part of her jointure; and soon after an elaborate program of redecoration began. Daniel Mytens [Mitjens] was first commissioned to paint a double portrait for the cabinet room but his work was deemed unsatisfactory. Van Dyck was then engaged and his version must have pleased for its emphasis on the union of the King (his sovereignty made plain by the regalia behind him) and the Queen, symbolized by the exchange to a garland of laurel, presented by the Queen to her husband and partly in allusion to her father’s (Henry IV) martial fame. The olive branch held in her left hand may also refer to Charles’ peace-loving father James I. There is a miniature copy of the queen’s head in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam which is signed and dated 1632 and a copy in miniature by John Hoskins of the whole picture, both of which were painted for the King.
There are several more copies both of the entire composition and of single figures in various collections and the work was also engraved by Van Voerst in 1634.

This painting is in the tradition of double portraits of wedded couples, often symbolising their union or the union of their two families.

This is a reduced copy after the original (now in the collection of the Archiepiscopal Castle and Gardens, Kromeríž, Czech Republic), painted in 1632 by Anthony van Dyck, to sit above the chimney in the drawing room in Somerset House, London. King Charles I had granted Somerset House to the Queen in 1626 as part of her jointure; and soon after an elaborate program of redecoration began. Daniel Mytens [Mitjens] was first commissioned to paint a double portrait for the cabinet room but his work was deemed unsatisfactory. Van Dyck was then engaged and his version must have pleased for its emphasis on the union of the King (his sovereignty made plain by the regalia behind him) and the Queen, symbolised by the exchange to a garland of laurel, presented by the Queen to her husband and partly in allusion to her father’s (Henry IV) martial fame. The olive branch held in her left hand may also refer to Charles’ peace-loving father James I. There is a miniature copy of the queen’s head in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam which is signed and dated 1632 and a copy in miniature by John Hoskins of the whole picture, both of which were painted for the King.
There are several more copies both of the entire composition and of single figures in various collections and the work was also engraved by Van Voerst in 1634.

1342-1869