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...