The Lost Prince: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart

Charming exhibition at the National Gallery looking at the life of Prince Henry eldest son of James I and heir to the throne whose death lead to the succession of Charles I.

I am increasingly attracted to this period of history which seems to get forgotten between the great reign of Elizabeth I and the Civil War. In many ways it was the heart of the British Renaissance. The renaissance of thought came with Henry VIII but I think this period shows the renaissance in art.

In examining the life of Prince Henry the exhibition looks at Jacobean portraiture. I loved the double portrait of Henery and Robert Devereux by Robert Peake showing the two boys out hunting. However Peake’s world was a studied symbolic one. This contrasted with the pictures by Mierevelt which seemed to the next step up with a wonderful realistic skin quality. It was interesting that Henry’s friends kept trying to persuade this artist to come to England.

The exhibition also gave a view of a Renaissance prince looking at his collections of bronzes cameos and paintings and also at his leanings towards architecture and garden design.

The last room was devoted to his early death and the national outpouring of grief. It is interesting how exhibitions talk to each other as I had only recently seen on Princess Charlotte for whom there was a similar display of grief on her death.
 
However the quote of the show on one label has to be on talking about James I it refered to his “problematic relationships with a number of young men”. How nicely put!
 
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