0:00:02 > 0:00:05For the first time in almost 400 years,
0:00:05 > 0:00:08King Charles I's art collection,
0:00:08 > 0:00:10one of the greatest ever assembled,
0:00:10 > 0:00:14is being reunited for a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition,
0:00:14 > 0:00:18here at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23Rubens, Rembrandt, Titian,
0:00:23 > 0:00:26van Dyck, Veronese and Tintoretto.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31Some of my very, very favourite paintings from all time are here.
0:00:33 > 0:00:37The quality of the collection is simply staggering.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40Within just two decades,
0:00:40 > 0:00:44Charles I amassed works by the great masters of the age.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48There's something quite moving about these pictures
0:00:48 > 0:00:50being on the same walls again.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52At the height of his powers,
0:00:52 > 0:00:57Charles' royal palaces were bursting with almost 2,000 artworks
0:00:57 > 0:01:00that would bring a taste of the Renaissance to Britain...
0:01:04 > 0:01:06..then, calamity struck -
0:01:06 > 0:01:10rebellion, civil war and the execution of the King.
0:01:12 > 0:01:18His art collection was sold off and scattered all over the world.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20One, two, three...
0:01:20 > 0:01:25Now, Royal Collection Trust and the Royal Academy have joined forces
0:01:25 > 0:01:29to bring Charles' collection back together again for the first time.
0:01:32 > 0:01:36I'm going behind the scenes as the exhibition comes together...
0:01:36 > 0:01:40These come back to England for the first time since the 17th century.
0:01:42 > 0:01:43It's incredibly exciting.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47..finding out about the history of the King and his collection.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51This is an extraordinary moment.
0:01:51 > 0:01:55I don't suppose even van Dyck saw all these together.
0:01:58 > 0:02:00Now the collection is back together,
0:02:00 > 0:02:02I want to see it for myself
0:02:02 > 0:02:04to find out why Charles I loved his art,
0:02:04 > 0:02:06how he lost it, and how it was reunited.
0:02:21 > 0:02:25The exhibition is being assembled by two curators...
0:02:26 > 0:02:30..Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures Desmond Shawe-Taylor...
0:02:31 > 0:02:33..and, for the Royal Academy, Per Rumberg.
0:02:35 > 0:02:39We didn't know if this exhibition was going to be possible at all.
0:02:39 > 0:02:42It takes a long time to put an exhibition like this together,
0:02:42 > 0:02:44and we've done it in about three years,
0:02:44 > 0:02:46which isn't actually that long -
0:02:46 > 0:02:49I mean, we could have easily taken another couple of years.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54There are 140 works in the exhibition -
0:02:54 > 0:02:5889 of them are coming from today's Royal Collection,
0:02:58 > 0:03:02but some priceless works are returning from museums abroad.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07We have been extremely fortunate in this case -
0:03:07 > 0:03:09particularly the Louvre and the Prado,
0:03:09 > 0:03:13but museums all over the world have been extremely generous.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20The exhibition reveals the grandeur of Charles' collection...
0:03:23 > 0:03:26..but his love affair with art began on a much smaller scale.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36So, what's the story behind this beautiful object?
0:03:36 > 0:03:40Well, it was given by the Grand Duke of Tuscany to Prince Henry -
0:03:40 > 0:03:44that's Henry Prince of Wales, who is Charles I's elder brother
0:03:44 > 0:03:45- and heir to the throne...- Mm-hm.
0:03:45 > 0:03:48..and was much more glamorous and sporty
0:03:48 > 0:03:50and generally popular than Charles.
0:03:50 > 0:03:51He rather overshadowed Charles,
0:03:51 > 0:03:53but died young,
0:03:53 > 0:03:56and he gave this work, at his deathbed,
0:03:56 > 0:03:59to his younger brother, Prince Charles,
0:03:59 > 0:04:03who was only 12 at the time and was rather a weakling
0:04:03 > 0:04:06and very much in the shadow of his elder brother.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09So, it's a kind of special moment in the history of the collection.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11And who made it? Where does it come from?
0:04:11 > 0:04:13By Pietro Tacca,
0:04:13 > 0:04:15and it's a sort of rough copy
0:04:15 > 0:04:19of a horse from a Giambologna Equestrian monument in Florence.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22This fantastic technique of bronze casting,
0:04:22 > 0:04:25all this wonderful detail - you see those veins on the horse's flanks...
0:04:25 > 0:04:28Yeah. It's quite moving, thinking that a piece of art like this
0:04:28 > 0:04:30was handed from one brother to another.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34Yeah, I think of it as a nice handing over of the mantle
0:04:34 > 0:04:37- from elder brother to younger brother.- So, when Henry dies,
0:04:37 > 0:04:41Charles not only inherits the title - he's now to become King -
0:04:41 > 0:04:43but he inherits this piece of art.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46Do you think that that's what fuelled his passion?
0:04:46 > 0:04:48Well, it's got to start somewhere -
0:04:48 > 0:04:52but also, of course, when he becomes Prince of Wales,
0:04:52 > 0:04:55he is going to inherit everything in the Royal Collection,
0:04:55 > 0:04:58so it is an absolute jackpot moment.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05The young Prince Charles developed a passion
0:05:05 > 0:05:07for the art of the Italian Renaissance...
0:05:09 > 0:05:13..but the great Catholic monarchies of Europe had all the best works.
0:05:15 > 0:05:19Artistically, Britain was a backwater.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24Charles goes to Madrid in 1623, and he sees the Habsburg collection,
0:05:24 > 0:05:27and he must have been overwhelmed by it.
0:05:27 > 0:05:29He comes back with his first Titians -
0:05:29 > 0:05:33and one of them we have in the exhibition, a portrait of Charles V.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38It has this wonderful sort of sparkling detail of his costume.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42You have a kind of moody, atmospheric softness
0:05:42 > 0:05:44in the way that Titian paints.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48So I think that trip is completely critical, seminal -
0:05:48 > 0:05:49that's the moment.
0:05:49 > 0:05:52I think there was that revelation of what sort of prestige
0:05:52 > 0:05:55painting could lend to a monarchy.
0:05:58 > 0:06:03In 1625, after the death of James I,
0:06:03 > 0:06:05Charles ascended to the throne.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Charles believed in the divine right of kings.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13Right from the start, he provoked the wrath of Parliament
0:06:13 > 0:06:16by setting out to rule and raise taxes
0:06:16 > 0:06:18without parliamentary consent.
0:06:19 > 0:06:24Now he also had the means to compete with Europe's best art collections.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34At Hampton Court Palace, six weeks before the exhibition opens,
0:06:34 > 0:06:38a series of huge paintings are being checked and prepared for transport
0:06:38 > 0:06:40to the Royal Academy.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47It's a sequence of nine paintings -
0:06:47 > 0:06:49Mantegna's Triumph of Julius Caesar,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52depicting an ancient victory celebration.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55It's quite an undertaking.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58Nine enormous canvases.
0:06:59 > 0:07:00You do want to be sure
0:07:00 > 0:07:04that the getting of them from here to the Royal Academy
0:07:04 > 0:07:08is a completely safe, stable, protected process.
0:07:11 > 0:07:15In 1630, when Charles brought these paintings to London,
0:07:15 > 0:07:19Britain had never seen anything like them before -
0:07:19 > 0:07:22and Charles had got hold of them by a stroke of good luck.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28Basically, collecting is all about opportunity,
0:07:28 > 0:07:30and opportunity comes with somebody else's misfortune.
0:07:32 > 0:07:37The Duke of Mantua was head of the powerful Gonzaga family in Italy.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40They had made their fortune from the silk industry,
0:07:40 > 0:07:43but had now fallen on hard times.
0:07:44 > 0:07:46The Gonzaga Dukes were going bankrupt,
0:07:46 > 0:07:49and they were very threatened by their neighbours,
0:07:49 > 0:07:51so they were looking to bail themselves out.
0:07:52 > 0:07:56The Gonzaga collection was one of the most extraordinary collections
0:07:56 > 0:07:58of Italian Renaissance art,
0:07:58 > 0:08:00and so, their collection came up for sale,
0:08:00 > 0:08:03it was just incredibly fortuitous.
0:08:03 > 0:08:04Charles cleared them out.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07He bought the lion's share of the collection -
0:08:07 > 0:08:10over 400 works...
0:08:10 > 0:08:12With one major bulk purchase,
0:08:12 > 0:08:15he's able to create a collection
0:08:15 > 0:08:19that is all of a sudden on par with all of the other courts in Europe.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24..and the star turn of that purchase was the Triumph of Caesar.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33Each painting is painted on three lengths of canvas
0:08:33 > 0:08:36that Mantegna had stitched together,
0:08:36 > 0:08:38and I'm just checking the seams,
0:08:38 > 0:08:41checking that there are no weaknesses in it -
0:08:41 > 0:08:43but I do get caught up in this one,
0:08:43 > 0:08:46because, in theory, it's a freeze, it's still,
0:08:46 > 0:08:51but I keep getting struck by the amount of tension there is
0:08:51 > 0:08:54in the painting, and the movement.
0:08:54 > 0:09:00So, just this tiny little clasp holding his tunic together,
0:09:00 > 0:09:02it's pulling because he's moving.
0:09:02 > 0:09:07Again, here, there's a ribbon wound around, hanging down,
0:09:07 > 0:09:11but there's tension of holding it, holding it in his fingers.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21At the National Gallery,
0:09:21 > 0:09:24conservators are preparing one of their paintings for the exhibition.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31While working on it, they've made a surprising discovery.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37This is a painting by Guido Reni,
0:09:37 > 0:09:40who is one of the great artists of the Italian Baroque.
0:09:41 > 0:09:44Charles would have loved a painting like this.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47It's a big, elegant, Baroque composition.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51I think he'd have loved a subject like the goddess of love,
0:09:51 > 0:09:52this incredibly beautiful woman.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54She's got her jewels and her attendants,
0:09:54 > 0:09:57it's a very kind of rich and opulent subject.
0:09:59 > 0:10:01This is certainly a painting
0:10:01 > 0:10:03I think you can say has been somewhat overlooked -
0:10:03 > 0:10:06and that's partly - or, I think, in fact, largely -
0:10:06 > 0:10:07been to do with its condition.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15I've been working on this painting since June of 2016.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17That involved removing a couple of layers
0:10:17 > 0:10:19of degraded and yellowed varnish
0:10:19 > 0:10:21that were over the surface of the painting...
0:10:22 > 0:10:24..and then doing really careful retouching
0:10:24 > 0:10:26just to the areas of loss or damage,
0:10:26 > 0:10:29to really enjoy as much as possible the original paint.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36This painting, as far as I know,
0:10:36 > 0:10:39has always been called Studio of Guido Reni.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42What we mean by that is we know that Guido Reni painted
0:10:42 > 0:10:43an original of this composition.
0:10:43 > 0:10:48In this instance, we actually didn't know where the original was -
0:10:48 > 0:10:50so it's just a way of differentiating
0:10:50 > 0:10:53between the prime version that the main artist himself worked on
0:10:53 > 0:10:55and other versions or copies
0:10:55 > 0:10:58which probably had less involvement of the master himself...
0:11:01 > 0:11:03..but when we started looking closely
0:11:03 > 0:11:05once it had been cleaned a bit, just with the naked eye,
0:11:05 > 0:11:09we found a lot of evidence of changes on the painting -
0:11:09 > 0:11:12and that's not something you see in a studio copy,
0:11:12 > 0:11:16because a copyist is just making a copy of the finished product.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18So, these pale pink lines here,
0:11:18 > 0:11:21which are outlines for this beautiful pink drapery.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25Clearly, Reni thought, originally, he might have that coming higher up,
0:11:25 > 0:11:28but we still see that trace of his original thinking.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31Similarly, we can look here and you've got the lovely Cupid
0:11:31 > 0:11:32and his beautiful wing,
0:11:32 > 0:11:35and if you look closely behind his hand
0:11:35 > 0:11:37you can see a sort of dark shadow -
0:11:37 > 0:11:39and that, we know now,
0:11:39 > 0:11:42was going to be his other wing, so that he had a wing on each side.
0:11:42 > 0:11:44When you find really extensive changes, as we did here,
0:11:44 > 0:11:46that's very strong evidence
0:11:46 > 0:11:48that you're actually looking at the original.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52So this is a kind of hugely exciting moment
0:11:52 > 0:11:55to think, "Wow, we're actually looking at an original painting
0:11:55 > 0:11:57"by Guido Reni here."
0:12:08 > 0:12:12Charles' collection now included over a hundred classical statues...
0:12:14 > 0:12:16..and works by Titian...
0:12:18 > 0:12:19..Correggio.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24..and Giulio Romano...
0:12:24 > 0:12:28..hung in his private quarters in Whitehall Palace.
0:12:29 > 0:12:33Charles now had a treasure trove to be proud of -
0:12:33 > 0:12:35but his appetite couldn't be satisfied
0:12:35 > 0:12:38just by buying other people's art.
0:12:39 > 0:12:42Acquiring great masters of the past is essential
0:12:42 > 0:12:44if you've got to catch up,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47and that's quite frustrating because these very precious things
0:12:47 > 0:12:50have to come on the market, which you can't guarantee.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54So you look to get somebody, get a player.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01In the 1620s, this was the most famous living painter
0:13:01 > 0:13:02in the world...
0:13:02 > 0:13:04..Peter Paul Rubens -
0:13:04 > 0:13:06and Charles was smitten.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11The clearest indication of what he would have felt about Rubens
0:13:11 > 0:13:13is that the first work - or the first proper work -
0:13:13 > 0:13:17which he acquired from Rubens at his own request was a self-portrait.
0:13:17 > 0:13:21The prince said, "I want you - you, as an artist."
0:13:21 > 0:13:22Rubens noted in a letter
0:13:22 > 0:13:26that he thought that perhaps this wasn't quite appropriate,
0:13:26 > 0:13:28to send a picture of himself -
0:13:28 > 0:13:32but he says that the Prince "overcame my modesty".
0:13:32 > 0:13:35I should think Rubens' modesty would be quite easy to overcome -
0:13:35 > 0:13:36but still, there you are.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43At this time, Europe was ablaze with religious conflict.
0:13:44 > 0:13:47Protestants and Catholics were slaughtering each other
0:13:47 > 0:13:49in the Thirty Years' War.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55As King of a Protestant country with connections across Catholic Europe,
0:13:55 > 0:13:57Charles was a divisive monarch at home...
0:13:59 > 0:14:02..but Catholic Spain saw his religious ambivalence
0:14:02 > 0:14:03as an opportunity...
0:14:06 > 0:14:09..and Rubens wasn't only an artist.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11He was also a diplomat.
0:14:11 > 0:14:16So when Spain needed an envoy to broker a peace deal with Charles,
0:14:16 > 0:14:17who better to send?
0:14:18 > 0:14:24In 1630, Rubens helped secure peace with the Treaty of Madrid.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26He was rewarded with a knighthood.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32That same year, the artist painted this powerful allegory.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38Religious war is represented by the fearsome dragon -
0:14:38 > 0:14:43and here, to save Europe from destruction, is St George,
0:14:43 > 0:14:45looking remarkably like Charles...
0:14:55 > 0:14:58..but Charles had bigger plans for his new favourite.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04In 1619, his father James I
0:15:04 > 0:15:07had commissioned a new banqueting house
0:15:07 > 0:15:11for Whitehall Palace in the Italian classical style.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20Ten years later, Charles asked Rubens to decorate the ceiling.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34It was a powerful and provocative statement
0:15:34 > 0:15:37of the King's divine right to rule.
0:15:48 > 0:15:50The big thing about this ceiling
0:15:50 > 0:15:52is that it's about the power of the monarchy.
0:15:52 > 0:15:53So what it is really about
0:15:53 > 0:15:58is about how the King has this God-given right to rule the land.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02So it's a great big piece of fantastic visual propaganda -
0:16:02 > 0:16:04but you really have to figure out who's doing what,
0:16:04 > 0:16:06why they're up there and what the message is
0:16:06 > 0:16:08to get any real pleasure out of it -
0:16:08 > 0:16:10and I have to tell you, the best way to do that
0:16:10 > 0:16:12- is not to stand here and look up... - Mm-hm.
0:16:12 > 0:16:14..but to go down and lie on the floor,
0:16:14 > 0:16:17because, that way, we get to see it as it's meant to be seen.
0:16:17 > 0:16:18- What are we waiting for?- Yeah!
0:16:26 > 0:16:28So what's happening in these three main panels?
0:16:28 > 0:16:30Well, the big one in the middle, the oval,
0:16:30 > 0:16:33that's the apotheosis of James I,
0:16:33 > 0:16:36so that's Charles I's father going up to heaven,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39and he's going up on the back of a giant eagle.
0:16:39 > 0:16:41- Can you see the eagle up there? - Mm-hm.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45So he's being crowned by the gods up in heaven -
0:16:45 > 0:16:47and this allegory of peace,
0:16:47 > 0:16:50has got a laurel wreath that's got to go on his head.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53So this is, as it were, the ultimate destination of the King.
0:16:53 > 0:16:58He's going up to heaven where he's going to join his equals, the gods.
0:16:58 > 0:17:01So how do these other panels relate to this story here?
0:17:01 > 0:17:06Over there, that scene shows James seated on a throne, as it were,
0:17:06 > 0:17:09conquering all the bad things that were happening in the world,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12ushering in this period of prosperity and success.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16He's cast James I as King Solomon from the Bible -
0:17:16 > 0:17:18who was famously wise, of course.
0:17:18 > 0:17:20If you can see the woman with the helmet,
0:17:20 > 0:17:22- left of the King...- Oh, yeah. - ..that's Minerva,
0:17:22 > 0:17:25the goddess of wisdom, who's all over this ceiling -
0:17:25 > 0:17:28and she's fighting off Mars, the god of war,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31because, under James I, peace will triumph.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34It's another bit of typically Rubensian,
0:17:34 > 0:17:38very action-packed propaganda, saying how great James was.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41And this Rubensian propaganda, I guess, continues behind us.
0:17:41 > 0:17:42But do you know what?
0:17:42 > 0:17:45To see that properly, we're going to have to swivel round.
0:17:51 > 0:17:53Ah, wow!
0:17:53 > 0:17:56This is my favourite scene, actually.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58Minerva again, the goddess of wisdom,
0:17:58 > 0:18:00is supplying the two crowns -
0:18:00 > 0:18:02the crowns of England and Scotland -
0:18:02 > 0:18:06and they're being placed on the head of this lovely little baby
0:18:06 > 0:18:08who is probably meant to represent Charles I.
0:18:08 > 0:18:13So although this is about James, the father, the King's father,
0:18:13 > 0:18:16it's more importantly about his son, Charles I,
0:18:16 > 0:18:20because the son has inherited all the power,
0:18:20 > 0:18:22all the God-given right,
0:18:22 > 0:18:27and all the nobility that the rest of the ceiling ascribes to his dad.
0:18:27 > 0:18:29And everything is fine, dandy, and harmonious.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31Isn't it just? But what a thing.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33You know, what a thing.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35We are so lucky, in England, to have this.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39I mean, it's just wonderful that this is here.
0:18:45 > 0:18:47But not everyone found it wonderful.
0:18:48 > 0:18:53Charles's attitude to art and religion outraged his enemies.
0:18:53 > 0:18:58In Westminster he was constantly clashing with the House of Commons.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01Many saw Charles as a tyrant,
0:19:01 > 0:19:05and in 1629 the King confirmed their worst fears
0:19:05 > 0:19:08when he dissolved Parliament.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12It was the height of the battle between, you know,
0:19:12 > 0:19:14the King and the puritans.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17So, you know, I think bad things were happening in government
0:19:17 > 0:19:20and the King was trying to impose his personal rule -
0:19:20 > 0:19:21and parliament was dissolved,
0:19:21 > 0:19:23so it was a really fractious moment -
0:19:23 > 0:19:25and at the same time, there he is,
0:19:25 > 0:19:27spending all the nation's money on art.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30You have to think that no English monarch
0:19:30 > 0:19:32had ever been as keen on art as Charles I,
0:19:32 > 0:19:36never lavished as much resource of the nation on art as Charles I.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39So, all of those things stacked up against Charles,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42and were very, very important reasons why the Civil War happened.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48But even as political and religious tensions mounted,
0:19:48 > 0:19:52Charles was cultivating a new rising star among artists.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15What a stunning room.
0:20:15 > 0:20:17Yeah, this is the van Dyck room.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24At his home in Antwerp, Rubens had a clutch of apprentices.
0:20:24 > 0:20:28One was good at landscapes, another at clothes -
0:20:28 > 0:20:32but the best at faces was an artist called Anthony van Dyck.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38How did van Dyck come to be working in England, and with Charles?
0:20:38 > 0:20:41Basically, Charles I needed to get the best painter,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44and he was prepared to pay very generously -
0:20:44 > 0:20:47and if you asked the absolute elite of Europe at this time
0:20:47 > 0:20:50they would have said that van Dyck is the best,
0:20:50 > 0:20:52and Charles I finally got him.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54It's a bit like, you know, a Premiership club
0:20:54 > 0:20:57that just has this idea it wants a star,
0:20:57 > 0:21:00and is just going to look for the right moment.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04What was it that was unique about the way in which he painted Charles?
0:21:04 > 0:21:08Most artists at this date were quite mechanical in their executions,
0:21:08 > 0:21:13and van Dyck had this way of just suggesting it.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17He conveys all the richness of that detail, so it feels all sumptuous,
0:21:17 > 0:21:21but it's very, very sketchily and freely painted,
0:21:21 > 0:21:25so it has a kind of spontaneity and brilliance about it.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27The lighting's fantastic - particularly on the hand.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30Yes, and that's partly done by the hand against the background,
0:21:30 > 0:21:33which is much darker, but also much more thinly painted,
0:21:33 > 0:21:36so you can see the under paint showing through -
0:21:36 > 0:21:40and the hand also shows these areas of very beautiful drawing.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43It's got that lovely kind of gentle sweep to it, shape to it.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45He was a very fine draughtsman.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47Now, rumour is, Charles,
0:21:47 > 0:21:49he was about my height, which is 5'4" -
0:21:49 > 0:21:51but he looks grand and athletic in that picture.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53Yeah, that's what you're paying for,
0:21:53 > 0:21:55when you get a portrait painter -
0:21:55 > 0:21:57and the best way of doing that is just to get a low viewpoint
0:21:57 > 0:21:59so you're looking up at the figure.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03- So, do you think he transformed him from a king to an icon?- Exactly.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05It's a brilliant style of painting,
0:22:05 > 0:22:08but it also kind of suggests a brilliant style of kingship -
0:22:08 > 0:22:11it's like the King doesn't have to try too hard.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19A delighted Charles anointed van Dyck
0:22:19 > 0:22:22official court painter in 1632.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25He was knighted and paid £200 a year -
0:22:25 > 0:22:29twice as much as any other artist.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32Charles set him to work on his young family.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37This, I think, is a royal image
0:22:37 > 0:22:40which is intended for the King and Queen themselves,
0:22:40 > 0:22:43so it's like a family image -
0:22:43 > 0:22:47and what's very clever is that it's got all that majesty and dignity
0:22:47 > 0:22:49that you'd associate with a royal portrait,
0:22:49 > 0:22:52but it's also got a kind of comedy
0:22:52 > 0:22:54and a slight undermining of that affect.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58So you can see that the eldest prince, Charles,
0:22:58 > 0:23:02who would become Charles II, he's very imposing -
0:23:02 > 0:23:04he's got a bit of the Henry VIII look,
0:23:04 > 0:23:06he's definitely a prince...
0:23:06 > 0:23:10..but there's just enough for us to see these are just children -
0:23:10 > 0:23:12particularly, the sort of very unruly baby
0:23:12 > 0:23:16that's not going to keep still and shut up for the portrait sitting -
0:23:16 > 0:23:21and I think the cleverest thing is this huge dog, it's a mastiff dog.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24It is quite funny, the way it's all quite scrunched up like that,
0:23:24 > 0:23:25and we can see that if it got up
0:23:25 > 0:23:27it would just send all these children scattering
0:23:27 > 0:23:29- all over the place.- Apart from him,
0:23:29 > 0:23:32he looks like he's got the strength to hold that animal down!
0:23:32 > 0:23:34He's got that thing that children do, you know,
0:23:34 > 0:23:36they push their hand all over the eyes of the dog.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39- Yeah, he's dominating the dog. - Yeah -
0:23:39 > 0:23:43and there's a sort of play between the great big manly heroic dog
0:23:43 > 0:23:46belonging to the heir to the throne
0:23:46 > 0:23:49and the little sort of friendly weedy spaniel.
0:23:49 > 0:23:50It's completely wonderful,
0:23:50 > 0:23:53- it's all kind of soft and furry. - Looks asleep!
0:23:53 > 0:23:55It's got those lovely foldy bits.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58- The costumes are impressive in this one, aren't they?- Yeah. Yeah.
0:23:58 > 0:24:00I mean, that lovely gloss on the silk.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03- It's just the ultimate family portrait.- Yeah.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06This doesn't look like any other portrait.
0:24:06 > 0:24:07It's a one-off.
0:24:14 > 0:24:15With a few weeks to go,
0:24:15 > 0:24:20the team at Royal Collection Trust's conservation studio in Windsor
0:24:20 > 0:24:22are checking works...
0:24:22 > 0:24:24..and packing them up for the exhibition.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34It's extraordinary what is required to put together an exhibition,
0:24:34 > 0:24:38because everything has to be exactly correctly organised.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43You also require teams of art handlers.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46They've got to get them onto the walls, get them into the trucks -
0:24:46 > 0:24:50and all the time you have conservators
0:24:50 > 0:24:54who examine every square centimetre of the surface
0:24:54 > 0:24:56to ensure it's still safe to travel,
0:24:56 > 0:24:58that it hasn't been damaged.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01So it's a massive team effort, an exhibition like this.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04We're here sort of from dusk till dawn,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07overseeing the works coming in, hanging them,
0:25:07 > 0:25:09getting the labels on the wall.
0:25:09 > 0:25:13So we're here sort of 24/7 in the weeks leading up to the opening.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27For one visitor to the exhibition,
0:25:27 > 0:25:30this painting has a special interest.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40When I was playing Charles, this was the picture I had
0:25:40 > 0:25:43under my dressing room mirror...
0:25:43 > 0:25:45..so I could get every side correct!
0:25:48 > 0:25:51It's amazing to see it up close for the first time.
0:25:52 > 0:25:57You can see so much of the personality of the man in it.
0:25:58 > 0:25:59He looks...
0:26:00 > 0:26:02..to use an old-fashioned word, he looks very sensitive.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05The sort of permanently...
0:26:06 > 0:26:08..glistening eyes
0:26:08 > 0:26:11which make him look on the point of tears the whole time...
0:26:12 > 0:26:16..and, of course, van Dyck's fabric is always utterly immaculate -
0:26:16 > 0:26:20and the little detail of the pearl earring
0:26:20 > 0:26:22I think is very beautiful -
0:26:22 > 0:26:24and that incredible moustache.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28The hair is one thing, but the moustache is extraordinary...
0:26:28 > 0:26:29..and his style.
0:26:29 > 0:26:31I mean, what can you say?
0:26:31 > 0:26:34He's a bad king with great taste -
0:26:34 > 0:26:37and we've had a lot of bad kings,
0:26:37 > 0:26:40and very few with any taste whatsoever.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42Which I think is probably what, in the end,
0:26:42 > 0:26:43makes him very special to me!
0:26:45 > 0:26:48I find him an extremely fascinating person.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51Certainly, I was desperate to play him,
0:26:51 > 0:26:52I've always wanted to play him.
0:26:52 > 0:26:55Because of that weird combination
0:26:55 > 0:26:58of sadness and grace and monstrosity.
0:26:58 > 0:27:00You know, it's like a perfect job, really.
0:27:02 > 0:27:07I think maybe within here is the most personal image of Charles.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10Cos we're so used to seeing him on horseback...
0:27:10 > 0:27:13essentially propaganda pictures,
0:27:13 > 0:27:15and this is obviously much more intimate.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17He has a stricken sort of look to him.
0:27:19 > 0:27:24You cannot take away the innate sort of tragedy of his features.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36Charles' collection continued to grow.
0:27:36 > 0:27:42By 1639 he had 546 works in Whitehall Palace alone...
0:27:44 > 0:27:47..but Charles wasn't the only royal collector.
0:27:51 > 0:27:56Henrietta Maria was just 15 when she married Charles I.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58A catholic princess born in France,
0:27:58 > 0:28:00she didn't speak a word of English.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05The new Queen's Catholicism and taste in art
0:28:05 > 0:28:09added to suspicions that the king was a closet Catholic himself.
0:28:13 > 0:28:19As Queen of England, Henrietta Maria was given her own royal residence...
0:28:21 > 0:28:25..and she filled her house in Greenwich with European art.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37Tell me, what would this building have looked like
0:28:37 > 0:28:38in Henrietta Maria's day?
0:28:38 > 0:28:42Well, it would have been quite a striking contrast to most of London,
0:28:42 > 0:28:45and it afforded these spectacular views,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48and a lot of ceremonial visits and ambassadors
0:28:48 > 0:28:49would come up the Thames,
0:28:49 > 0:28:53so this was a place for entertainments
0:28:53 > 0:28:56and viewing and being viewed.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00This was a place of discernment and sophistication.
0:29:00 > 0:29:02You know, the height of fashion
0:29:02 > 0:29:05in terms of interior decoration and pictures.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09So everything very beautiful and exquisite -
0:29:09 > 0:29:12and, in fact, in the early 1640s,
0:29:12 > 0:29:17one person referred to it as the Queen's House of Delight.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25Above all, the Queen loved Italian art...
0:29:26 > 0:29:30..and this was one of her favourite paintings.
0:29:30 > 0:29:32It used to hang on this very wall
0:29:32 > 0:29:35over 300 years ago.
0:29:35 > 0:29:37Soon, it will be moved to the exhibition.
0:29:39 > 0:29:42This painting is by Orazio Gentileschi.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44It's an Old Testament story.
0:29:44 > 0:29:46It comes from Genesis.
0:29:46 > 0:29:48Now, this is Joseph.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51Joseph was bought as a slave for Potiphar,
0:29:51 > 0:29:55who was a captain in the Pharaoh's guard,
0:29:55 > 0:29:59and this is Potiphar's unnamed wife,
0:29:59 > 0:30:01but she took a fancy to Joseph
0:30:01 > 0:30:05and tried on a number of occasions to seduce him,
0:30:05 > 0:30:09and Joseph was ultimately imprisoned.
0:30:09 > 0:30:10It's clearly a striking piece.
0:30:10 > 0:30:13What do you think Henrietta Maria appreciated
0:30:13 > 0:30:14about Gentileschi's work?
0:30:14 > 0:30:19Henrietta Maria liked pretty pictures with attractive people.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23Its luminous, bright, clear colours.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25There's a crispness to it,
0:30:25 > 0:30:28with a great attention to textiles and fabrics.
0:30:28 > 0:30:30You see these beautiful vignettes
0:30:30 > 0:30:33like this detail on Joseph's silk stocking.
0:30:33 > 0:30:37You see these brilliant rumpled, dishevelled white sheets.
0:30:37 > 0:30:39There's a lot of energy in this picture.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45The Queen's taste in art and her religion
0:30:45 > 0:30:50added to the King's growing troubles with Protestant parliamentarians.
0:30:53 > 0:30:56So, what did the general public make of their Queen?
0:30:56 > 0:31:00Her Catholicism was deeply, deeply polarising.
0:31:00 > 0:31:02She was showy in her Catholicism.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05She also engaged in other activities
0:31:05 > 0:31:10that didn't necessarily ingratiate herself to the wider public -
0:31:10 > 0:31:14for example, she was a regular performer
0:31:14 > 0:31:17in court theatricals and court masques,
0:31:17 > 0:31:20and her puritan detractor William Prynne
0:31:20 > 0:31:27wrote a virulent criticism of female actors for being notorious whores -
0:31:27 > 0:31:29and while it doesn't name Henrietta Maria,
0:31:29 > 0:31:33because she was such a prolific actor in court masques,
0:31:33 > 0:31:36she was, of course, implicated.
0:31:36 > 0:31:41The result, as you can imagine - Prynne was harshly punished.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45His ears were cut off, apparently,
0:31:45 > 0:31:48and he was branded with "SL",
0:31:48 > 0:31:51meaning "seditious libel".
0:31:57 > 0:32:01After a decade of rule without parliamentary consent,
0:32:01 > 0:32:04Charles' enemies were rebelling against him.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08Britain was a tinderbox waiting to explode.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18In 1642, the King raised his standard
0:32:18 > 0:32:22against Oliver Cromwell's parliamentarian forces,
0:32:22 > 0:32:25and Civil War broke out.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland
0:32:28 > 0:32:31were all drawn into the bloody conflict.
0:32:31 > 0:32:33Roundheads versus Cavaliers,
0:32:33 > 0:32:36one town, one village against the next.
0:32:36 > 0:32:37Families divided.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42Royal art also came under attack.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46Puritans stormed into Henrietta Maria's Catholic chapel
0:32:46 > 0:32:47in Somerset House.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51They climbed on the altar and slashed with an axe
0:32:51 > 0:32:53at a Rubens painting of the crucifixion,
0:32:53 > 0:32:55before dumping it into the Thames.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01They then made a bonfire of her religious art.
0:33:05 > 0:33:08This painting by the English artist William Dobson
0:33:08 > 0:33:13shows a glimpse of the defining conflict in Charles' life.
0:33:15 > 0:33:17This is the picture that's in the Royal Academy,
0:33:17 > 0:33:21and it's actually a portrait of Charles II - so Charles I's son -
0:33:21 > 0:33:23and what he's doing is, he's quieting down
0:33:23 > 0:33:25these forces of envy and evil and fury -
0:33:25 > 0:33:28- and you see this horrible, grimacing face in the corner.- Mm.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30- That's actually Medusa...- Oh!
0:33:30 > 0:33:34..who is being quietened like a dog being told to sit.
0:33:34 > 0:33:36So, it's a painting that looks forward
0:33:36 > 0:33:38to this triumphant reign of Charles II.
0:33:38 > 0:33:39But what's going on here?
0:33:39 > 0:33:42This interests me, all this battle going on in the background.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44You've got this beautiful, serene foreground,
0:33:44 > 0:33:46and then all this in the background.
0:33:46 > 0:33:48Well, it's the Battle of Edgehill.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50So, Charles II was there.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53He actually saw the Royalist victory at Edgehill.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57So he has located this portrait not in a palace, or away from reality,
0:33:57 > 0:33:59but actually on the battlefield.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01It's a painting about how, in the future,
0:34:01 > 0:34:03all this will be behind us,
0:34:03 > 0:34:07and this new king will take Britain into this next era
0:34:07 > 0:34:11of prosperity and peace - so it's another piece of visual propaganda,
0:34:11 > 0:34:14but a very sort of English and beautiful one.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17You are a huge fan of William Dobson, aren't you?
0:34:17 > 0:34:19I was put on earth to remind everybody
0:34:19 > 0:34:21of how important William Dobson was.
0:34:21 > 0:34:23He was a critical figure at this time,
0:34:23 > 0:34:26because he was the only English painter
0:34:26 > 0:34:30who was allowed to thrive and blossom under Charles I.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32Van Dyck dies in 1641,
0:34:32 > 0:34:36at exactly the point when the Civil War's about to break out,
0:34:36 > 0:34:37so, for the next four years,
0:34:37 > 0:34:41Dobson was the only artist at work in the royal court,
0:34:41 > 0:34:44and, you know, that's such a God-given moment,
0:34:44 > 0:34:48and made him the only great British figure of the Baroque,
0:34:48 > 0:34:50and one who deserves far more attention than he gets.
0:34:54 > 0:34:55By the end of the Civil War,
0:34:55 > 0:34:59proportionally more people had died in Britain
0:34:59 > 0:35:01than in the two World Wars combined.
0:35:03 > 0:35:06Parliament held Charles accountable.
0:35:06 > 0:35:11He was arrested, put on trial, and found guilty of treason...
0:35:12 > 0:35:15..and that crime carried the death penalty.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20Most traitors were executed at the Tower of London...
0:35:22 > 0:35:23..but not Charles.
0:35:25 > 0:35:27He got up and he was led through St James's Park
0:35:27 > 0:35:30and brought into here, brought into the banqueting house.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38They built the scaffold for the execution just over there,
0:35:38 > 0:35:40outside the actual building,
0:35:40 > 0:35:42so he had to pass through this great room
0:35:42 > 0:35:45that he had commissioned from Rubens,
0:35:45 > 0:35:46in which the ultimate irony
0:35:46 > 0:35:49was that this is all about the divine right of the King,
0:35:49 > 0:35:53and yet, here he is being shuffled off for his execution.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56I mean, imagine, also, looking up and seeing himself, you know,
0:35:56 > 0:35:57as this little baby
0:35:57 > 0:36:00who is going to bring peace and plenty to the nation,
0:36:00 > 0:36:02and having to pass underneath that.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05One of the things that surprised people most
0:36:05 > 0:36:07was how well the King carried it off.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10I mean, people were expecting him to crumble, to beg,
0:36:10 > 0:36:13you know, to ask for forgiveness, but none of that happened.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17It was infamously an incredibly cold January morning,
0:36:17 > 0:36:21so we know that he put on this extra shirt, or two shirts,
0:36:21 > 0:36:24specifically so that the public wouldn't see him shivering.
0:36:27 > 0:36:31Amongst his final words - I mean, Charles is supposed to have said,
0:36:31 > 0:36:33"Today is my second wedding day,
0:36:33 > 0:36:37"because today I'm going to be married to Jesus,"
0:36:37 > 0:36:38and for him, certainly,
0:36:38 > 0:36:41there was always this religious underpinning to it all.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44He'd been chosen by God to be the king of the nation.
0:36:44 > 0:36:48Now, the nation, for reasons known to itself, was getting rid of him -
0:36:48 > 0:36:50but that was the nation's choice.
0:36:50 > 0:36:51It wasn't God's choice.
0:36:54 > 0:36:56They actually made him lie on the ground
0:36:56 > 0:36:59with his head on the block at ground level...
0:37:04 > 0:37:08..and the head was severed with one strong blow, and that was it.
0:37:11 > 0:37:13There's all sorts of written reports of what happened next.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16Wailing in the crowd -
0:37:16 > 0:37:20a kind of ghostly moan went up from all the people watching -
0:37:20 > 0:37:22and some of them rushed forward afterwards,
0:37:22 > 0:37:24and tried to gather up some mementos.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28People would get bits of cloth, and their hats and things,
0:37:28 > 0:37:30and their fingers, in the blood.
0:37:34 > 0:37:36There is something Christ-like about it.
0:37:38 > 0:37:43There is the same sort of sense that the moment that Christ is crucified,
0:37:43 > 0:37:45there's a kind of...
0:37:45 > 0:37:47"Oh, Christ, what have we done?"
0:37:47 > 0:37:51and it's no surprise that such a short time afterwards,
0:37:51 > 0:37:54he was claimed as a martyr,
0:37:54 > 0:37:59and, by certain parts of the establishment, probably still is.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09Shock waves echoed through the kingdoms of Europe.
0:38:09 > 0:38:14War and rebellion had resulted in the killing of an anointed king,
0:38:14 > 0:38:16and a new republic had been declared,
0:38:16 > 0:38:19with Oliver Cromwell at its head.
0:38:20 > 0:38:22In terms of European history,
0:38:22 > 0:38:27the execution of Charles I is a bolt out of the blue,
0:38:27 > 0:38:28shock, unimaginable.
0:38:28 > 0:38:31The King was dead.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33His Queen was in exile.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37The biggest Royal art collection in British history
0:38:37 > 0:38:41was hanging unseen in dark, empty palaces.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46Within two days of the King's execution,
0:38:46 > 0:38:51Parliament decided that all of Charles' worldly possessions
0:38:51 > 0:38:53should be sold off.
0:38:53 > 0:38:56Parliament appointed 11 trustees
0:38:56 > 0:38:59to go around a dozen or so of the royal palaces.
0:38:59 > 0:39:01They needed money quickly,
0:39:01 > 0:39:03and they just went in there
0:39:03 > 0:39:06and started inventorying every single object.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12All of the inventories that they compiled
0:39:12 > 0:39:15were actually transcribed in this book.
0:39:15 > 0:39:20It was a very fat book that has over 5,000 entries...
0:39:20 > 0:39:22..and it just lists everything -
0:39:22 > 0:39:27so, from the huge - like the royal barges, for example -
0:39:27 > 0:39:31to the very small, like chairs, stools and cushions,
0:39:31 > 0:39:34and, in some cases, dog collars and chamber pots.
0:39:37 > 0:39:43In October 1649, the sale started, and it took place on this very site,
0:39:43 > 0:39:45in the old Somerset House.
0:39:48 > 0:39:50This was the sale of the century.
0:39:50 > 0:39:55Everything was up for grabs - including Charles' art collection.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59Everything was just dumped in this great hall
0:39:59 > 0:40:02and stacked up against the wall,
0:40:02 > 0:40:07and people were invited to come in and look around and rummage.
0:40:07 > 0:40:10You could find a Titian next to an old blanket
0:40:10 > 0:40:12in this kind of giant car-boot sale.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17There was about 1,300 works of art,
0:40:17 > 0:40:23and so, all of the items are here, listed, described, and valued.
0:40:25 > 0:40:30Here, an old woman's head by Rembrandt, for £4...
0:40:32 > 0:40:35..and here, Mars and Venus by Veronese,
0:40:35 > 0:40:37valued only at £10.
0:40:38 > 0:40:43The picture of Rubens by himself, for £16.
0:40:43 > 0:40:45It's a bit of a bargain...
0:40:46 > 0:40:51..and on this page, you can find the family of the Marquis of Guasto -
0:40:51 > 0:40:56which was actually Titian's Conjugal Allegory - for £50.
0:40:58 > 0:41:03Every artwork was listed, including Mantegna's Triumph of Caesar.
0:41:05 > 0:41:07They had an incredibly high value on them.
0:41:07 > 0:41:09I think it's £1,000 -
0:41:09 > 0:41:13but although they were in the original sale of the King's goods,
0:41:13 > 0:41:14they were held back.
0:41:14 > 0:41:15They weren't sold.
0:41:15 > 0:41:16They stayed here.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21Cromwell was going to be living at Hampton Court,
0:41:21 > 0:41:25and maybe he began to identify himself with Julius Caesar,
0:41:25 > 0:41:28another great military leader who had triumphed.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33Even though anybody could buy at the sale,
0:41:33 > 0:41:35the ones who really did the best out of it
0:41:35 > 0:41:40were those who knew what they were looking at and looking for.
0:41:40 > 0:41:44One of the major players was called Everhard Jabach,
0:41:44 > 0:41:48and he was an incredible collector, and he knew exactly what to get.
0:41:48 > 0:41:51He then turned around and sold to the King of France,
0:41:51 > 0:41:55which is why they're now in the Louvre in Paris.
0:42:03 > 0:42:07You must imagine a greedy, elegant crowd,
0:42:07 > 0:42:11maybe not so different from what one experiences today...
0:42:11 > 0:42:17..trying to grab some of the art of the other late king.
0:42:19 > 0:42:20Everhard Jabach -
0:42:20 > 0:42:22"Zhaback", as the French say -
0:42:22 > 0:42:24was at the sale,
0:42:24 > 0:42:27and he acquired, severally, ten pictures -
0:42:27 > 0:42:31especially The Supper At Emmaus by Titian,
0:42:31 > 0:42:33which is now at the museum here at the Louvre...
0:42:34 > 0:42:39..and also, this wonderful other picture by Titian,
0:42:39 > 0:42:40which is the Conjugal Allegory.
0:42:42 > 0:42:44Those are quite remarkable instances
0:42:44 > 0:42:50of Jabach's flair for goods which would be sellable
0:42:50 > 0:42:52to the French.
0:43:07 > 0:43:11We're standing right now in front of one of the gems
0:43:11 > 0:43:14of the Musee de Louvre, which is the Roi a la chasse,
0:43:14 > 0:43:19the portrait of Charles I, King Charles I,
0:43:19 > 0:43:21in the hunting field...
0:43:24 > 0:43:27..and what we see is the King,
0:43:27 > 0:43:29who's just dismounted,
0:43:29 > 0:43:36his silvery horse - and the horse's mouth is full of foam.
0:43:37 > 0:43:39Van Dyck was a keen observer,
0:43:39 > 0:43:42not only of human nature and psychology,
0:43:42 > 0:43:45but also of animals and beasts.
0:43:45 > 0:43:50This one is a true, breathing, living, foaming horse.
0:43:50 > 0:43:52This is quite remarkable,
0:43:52 > 0:43:55and in a way, although this may be stretching it a bit far,
0:43:55 > 0:43:57the beast steals the show...
0:43:59 > 0:44:03..but of course, the King stands regal, his arm akimbo,
0:44:03 > 0:44:05resting on a cane,
0:44:05 > 0:44:11and this delightful hat just on the verge of falling,
0:44:11 > 0:44:12which is so stylish.
0:44:13 > 0:44:15Charles was a stammerer.
0:44:15 > 0:44:22He was also shifty, he was not at ease with other people,
0:44:22 > 0:44:27and so this slightly awkward figure is transformed by van Dyck,
0:44:27 > 0:44:31here, in this wonderfully poised figure.
0:44:37 > 0:44:39The most important work for us in this show
0:44:39 > 0:44:43was Charles I in the hunting field by van Dyck -
0:44:43 > 0:44:47the one royal portrait that got away, as it were.
0:44:49 > 0:44:51When organising exhibitions like this,
0:44:51 > 0:44:53you have to meet curators face-to-face
0:44:53 > 0:44:56and get them enthusiastic about the project.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59You're very much in the hands of the lenders.
0:44:59 > 0:45:03It's only if they're willing to part with their most precious works
0:45:03 > 0:45:07that you can actually make your vision happen.
0:45:09 > 0:45:13When we received the loan request from the Royal Academy
0:45:13 > 0:45:17asking for some of our paintings,
0:45:17 > 0:45:23especially this one, well, of course, we were...
0:45:23 > 0:45:25..slightly taken aback.
0:45:25 > 0:45:29It's a bit difficult for a curator to let go...
0:45:34 > 0:45:36God, we were relieved that they agreed
0:45:36 > 0:45:40and that they were willing to send them.
0:45:40 > 0:45:41..but it will be back,
0:45:41 > 0:45:45and, in the meantime, will have been admired
0:45:45 > 0:45:48and studied by so many.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51In a way, we're very proud to be part of it all.
0:46:00 > 0:46:03Every work of art had a different fate.
0:46:05 > 0:46:09This painting was given to puritan brewer Robert Houghton
0:46:09 > 0:46:12to clear unpaid royal bills.
0:46:12 > 0:46:14It looked different then -
0:46:14 > 0:46:17the catalogue described the woman showing her naked breast.
0:46:17 > 0:46:20It's been suggested that its new puritan owner
0:46:20 > 0:46:23cut off the offending nudity.
0:46:24 > 0:46:27The painting disappeared for almost 300 years
0:46:27 > 0:46:32before resurfacing in a London art gallery in the 1930s.
0:46:33 > 0:46:38Collector Martha McGeary Snider bought it in the 1980s.
0:46:38 > 0:46:4130 years later, she reluctantly parted with it.
0:46:48 > 0:46:49- So, Martha.- Hello.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51How does it feel, being reunited?
0:46:51 > 0:46:52You haven't seen it for over a year.
0:46:52 > 0:46:55Very emotional. Thrilling.
0:46:55 > 0:46:57So, tell me about when you first saw this painting.
0:46:57 > 0:47:01It was the summer of '89, when I first started collecting.
0:47:01 > 0:47:03I had actually come to London
0:47:03 > 0:47:06to take a look at some of the great art that you have in this city,
0:47:06 > 0:47:09and that's when I walked into the gallery,
0:47:09 > 0:47:12and across the room, on the wall, I saw...
0:47:12 > 0:47:15..this incredible woman staring back at me,
0:47:15 > 0:47:18and I was compelled immediately.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22I was drawn to her, and mesmerised by her, actually.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26The light and the shading's fantastic, as well.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29- Yes.- What was it about her that attracted you, and you thought,
0:47:29 > 0:47:34- "I like this"?- Because she's looking straight out at the viewer.
0:47:34 > 0:47:35Yeah, she's quite defiant and confident.
0:47:35 > 0:47:39She holds her own presence so strongly
0:47:39 > 0:47:42that she is just not an extra in a painting.
0:47:42 > 0:47:44She is the star of something -
0:47:44 > 0:47:49and as I lived with her for almost three decades,
0:47:49 > 0:47:53she seemed to ask me the question, you know,
0:47:53 > 0:47:55"Are you doing your best today?"
0:47:55 > 0:47:57- Oh, really?- Yes!- So you built a relationship with her!
0:47:58 > 0:48:00Now, apparently, Charles hung it, like you,
0:48:00 > 0:48:03- in a very special place. - Yes, he did.
0:48:03 > 0:48:05It was in his private chamber,
0:48:05 > 0:48:07right outside of his breakfast room,
0:48:07 > 0:48:13so he was able to look at it during his most intimate times.
0:48:13 > 0:48:14She's very different and very unique
0:48:14 > 0:48:16to the rest of the collection that we see here.
0:48:16 > 0:48:19Do you think it's important that this piece is here?
0:48:19 > 0:48:20Absolutely.
0:48:20 > 0:48:23In a way, she's timeless.
0:48:23 > 0:48:28She kind of steps out of this slice of history that we are looking at,
0:48:28 > 0:48:32and she can kind of look in a more personal way at the viewer.
0:48:38 > 0:48:43The most valuable works in Charles' entire collection ended up in Paris.
0:48:49 > 0:48:51Today, they are rarely seen,
0:48:51 > 0:48:53hidden away deep underground
0:48:53 > 0:48:56in the storage of the Mobilier National museum.
0:49:13 > 0:49:16We're looking at two of the four tapestries
0:49:16 > 0:49:19that will be lent to the Royal Academy
0:49:19 > 0:49:21for the Charles I exhibition.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27It will be the first time
0:49:27 > 0:49:30since the middle of the 17th century
0:49:30 > 0:49:33that a broad group of this set of tapestries
0:49:33 > 0:49:35come back in England.
0:49:38 > 0:49:42The tapestry hanging on the wall is an episode of Saint Peter's life.
0:49:45 > 0:49:47We can see the Christ
0:49:47 > 0:49:52blessing and filling all the little boats with fishes.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54It is one of the miracles of Christ.
0:49:57 > 0:50:03The face of Saint Peter is exceptional, and very powerful.
0:50:03 > 0:50:08The expression of the face, all the details of the eyes,
0:50:08 > 0:50:15the weavers succeeded in rendering emotions and life in this tapestry.
0:50:15 > 0:50:21All the parts that you can see here in dark originally were gilted.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25It would have shined like proper gold.
0:50:29 > 0:50:34These tapestries are not very often lent to exhibitions,
0:50:34 > 0:50:37because they are very fragile,
0:50:37 > 0:50:42and because the textile is very sensitive to the light -
0:50:42 > 0:50:44but we were very excited by this request,
0:50:44 > 0:50:49because we immediately understood that it would be the best occasion
0:50:49 > 0:50:53to show again this tapestry in England.
0:51:08 > 0:51:12Some of the artworks making their way to the exhibition
0:51:12 > 0:51:13are closer to home.
0:51:17 > 0:51:22This van Dyck portrait of Charles is being removed with great care.
0:51:22 > 0:51:23Is everybody ready for this?
0:51:23 > 0:51:25OK. Count of three, then.
0:51:25 > 0:51:27One, two, three...
0:51:28 > 0:51:30OK - and off...
0:51:30 > 0:51:32That's it. Yeah.
0:51:33 > 0:51:35Bit slower, bit slower. Slower.
0:51:38 > 0:51:42It's only travelling in a few hundred metres up the road,
0:51:42 > 0:51:43from Buckingham Palace...
0:51:46 > 0:51:48..to the Royal Academy.
0:51:50 > 0:51:51For the first time,
0:51:51 > 0:51:54it will be joining two other van Dyck masterpieces.
0:52:01 > 0:52:03Here they are.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07I don't suppose even van Dyck saw all these three together,
0:52:07 > 0:52:10so this is an extraordinary moment.
0:52:16 > 0:52:22This has not been seen in England since the Civil War, so it's...
0:52:24 > 0:52:25..unbelievable that it's here...
0:52:27 > 0:52:30..and that we're able to see it with the other equestrian portraits.
0:52:30 > 0:52:32You just have this incredible range
0:52:32 > 0:52:38during van Dyck's, you know, fairly brief career in England.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41You've got a kind of perfect threesome -
0:52:41 > 0:52:43the image of almost a Roman emperor,
0:52:43 > 0:52:46So that's an image of command, with a triumphal arch.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49A simple message for a king.
0:52:49 > 0:52:50This is the earliest,
0:52:50 > 0:52:51and this is what you'd expect -
0:52:51 > 0:52:54and then you have the National Gallery equestrian portrait
0:52:54 > 0:52:56a few years later,
0:52:56 > 0:52:58and it's sort of doing something completely different.
0:52:58 > 0:53:00It's more complicated,
0:53:00 > 0:53:03it's a more romantic, pastoral, Arthurian image
0:53:03 > 0:53:06of the King still in armour, and command,
0:53:06 > 0:53:10but looking not so masterful, looking more dreamy and poetical -
0:53:10 > 0:53:14and finally, you have the hunting portrait from the Louvre.
0:53:14 > 0:53:19It had to be a centrepiece, because it's such an important picture.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22It feels like it's just brought the soul back into the exhibition -
0:53:22 > 0:53:25but, also, it does add something completely new
0:53:25 > 0:53:26to the image of the King.
0:53:26 > 0:53:32I think this idea of sort of nonchalance and carelessness,
0:53:32 > 0:53:34the sort of ideal of the Cavalier,
0:53:34 > 0:53:37and I think you're really able to see
0:53:37 > 0:53:39the distinctive character of each,
0:53:39 > 0:53:42and the variety of van Dyck's art.
0:53:51 > 0:53:54The installation is gathering pace.
0:53:54 > 0:53:55Two weeks before the opening,
0:53:55 > 0:53:58the tapestries have arrived from France.
0:54:02 > 0:54:06- So, everybody, one set.- Yeah.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11It is incredibly exciting,
0:54:11 > 0:54:15I mean, even for us - I mean, Desmond and I have been...
0:54:15 > 0:54:17We went to Paris to look at them.
0:54:17 > 0:54:18As they were pulled up in front of us,
0:54:18 > 0:54:21we knew that this was going to be special in the exhibition -
0:54:21 > 0:54:23but we haven't seen all of...
0:54:23 > 0:54:26..more than one at a time, so to see now four of them together
0:54:26 > 0:54:30is rather moving, really.
0:54:30 > 0:54:32It will make a real difference to the exhibition,
0:54:32 > 0:54:35because these come back to England for the first time
0:54:35 > 0:54:37since the 17th century...
0:54:37 > 0:54:40..and I think this will be absolutely magical.
0:54:48 > 0:54:50During Cromwell's Commonwealth,
0:54:50 > 0:54:53hundreds of Charles' artworks left Britain.
0:54:54 > 0:54:59Many changed hands over and over again, and disappeared from view...
0:55:01 > 0:55:06..but a decade later, Cromwell died, and the Commonwealth crumbled.
0:55:08 > 0:55:13In 1660, the monarchy was restored.
0:55:13 > 0:55:16Charles II ascended to the throne,
0:55:16 > 0:55:19and began trying to reassemble the collection.
0:55:21 > 0:55:23The works he reunited
0:55:23 > 0:55:27form the backbone of the Royal Collection to this day.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35I have always been absolutely fascinated
0:55:35 > 0:55:40by the issue of King Charles I's incomparable collection.
0:55:42 > 0:55:45We are fortunate indeed
0:55:45 > 0:55:51to be the first generation in nearly 370 years
0:55:51 > 0:55:55to appreciate them as my ancestors once did.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58So, thank you, all of you,
0:55:58 > 0:55:59for all the parts you've played
0:55:59 > 0:56:02in making this great exhibition possible.
0:56:02 > 0:56:03Thank you.
0:56:03 > 0:56:05APPLAUSE
0:56:19 > 0:56:22The Royal Academy has been transformed
0:56:22 > 0:56:25into Charles I's ultimate palace of art.
0:56:25 > 0:56:29It's exciting to see so many works on display together
0:56:29 > 0:56:32for the first time since 1649 -
0:56:32 > 0:56:34and in a way that Charles himself
0:56:34 > 0:56:36would never have seen in his lifetime.
0:56:44 > 0:56:45This is an Arsenal exhibition.
0:56:45 > 0:56:48This is very classy, this is really cool.
0:56:48 > 0:56:49You know, it's not like a...
0:56:50 > 0:56:53What's a club that's gone belly-up recently?
0:56:53 > 0:56:55QPR. Sorry. Sorry, QPR fans.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58What's really struck you in these galleries?
0:56:58 > 0:57:01Oh, the Rubens and the van Dyck room, it's just incredible.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04It's just... I've just been standing...
0:57:05 > 0:57:07..really amazed... I can't find the words, really.
0:57:11 > 0:57:13Some of my very, very favourite paintings
0:57:13 > 0:57:16of all time are here,
0:57:16 > 0:57:21and the prize must go to Mantegna's Triumphs of Julius Caesar.
0:57:21 > 0:57:24Part of me thinks this is amazing,
0:57:24 > 0:57:29and I also think, this is... this is the kind of power
0:57:29 > 0:57:33of money and monarchy in the 17th century,
0:57:33 > 0:57:35of which I fundamentally disapprove!
0:57:36 > 0:57:38Well, I think people are awestruck
0:57:38 > 0:57:42to see this extraordinary collection of things that Charles I owned,
0:57:42 > 0:57:45which have been scattered to all four corners of the earth.
0:57:45 > 0:57:47It's not until you come and walk around them
0:57:47 > 0:57:49and see masterpiece after masterpiece
0:57:49 > 0:57:52that you realise quite how passionate he was about art
0:57:52 > 0:57:53and quite how much money he spent.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58This shows the power of art.
0:57:58 > 0:58:02This is not just a monarch's collection,
0:58:02 > 0:58:05but it's a collection that...
0:58:05 > 0:58:07..raises the monarch even more.
0:58:07 > 0:58:10It's a very civilising power.
0:58:15 > 0:58:19Charles I's Royal Collection didn't only delight the King -
0:58:19 > 0:58:23it also introduced Britain to the art of Renaissance Europe.
0:58:25 > 0:58:29It's been away on a great adventure,
0:58:29 > 0:58:32but now it's together again, back home.