Cathy's Art Diary

Intriguing online lecture from ARTscapades looking at Italian art in the Royal Collection and how it got there. Desmond Shawe-Taylor, Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures from 2005 to 2021 led us clearly through the topic with an emphasis on what, how and why the monarchs bought. We spent the first half looking at Charles I’s collection and I really enjoyed a section where we looked at where all the major works hung at Whitehall Palace. This led to a discussion on what Charles II reacquired on his restoration. In the second half we looked at the late Stuart’s and Georgians noting how taste for Italian art changed and the prevalence of anything the style of Raphael. The only major purchase came under George III when he bought the collection of John Smith, the British consul in Venice and agent to Canaletto. We finished by looking at Prince Albert’s love of early art such as a Duccio Triptych for which he made a frame.

Fabulous exhibition at the Royal Academy looking at the art collection of Charles I. From the first room of portraits of the main protagonists this was such a sumptuous show. For a long time I’ve been seeing things marked as having been part of Charles I collection so it was wonderful to see so much of it brought back together. I loved the labelling which not only told you about the item but also detailed where the work had hung when it was in the collection and what happened to it at the sale of work by Cromwell and on the Restoration. It was interesting to see how he collected older works and it was great to see so many Titian’s and in particular to see those which are now in the Louvre and the Prado. It was also good to see the wonderful Mantegna fresco which he acquired as part of the Gonzaga collection from Milan. However it was also interesting to compare that to the contemporary art he commissioned such as the lovely royal portraits by Van Dyck and the tapestries from th...

Interesting workshop at Conway Halls organised by the London Art History Society looking at the current exhibitions on the collections of Charles I & II. The day was led by Clare Ford-Wille and took us through both exhibitions with an excellent hand out highlighting the main works to look out for and to use in the shows. However I’d hoped for more of the narrative behind the shows. For example I’d have liked to know more about Charles I purchase of the Matua collection and what it contained plus more on how Charles II went about reclaiming objects from his father’s collection. She touched on these topics but only where the shows did and not in a chronological way. I’ve not seen either shows yet but can’t wait!