Charles I

• Artist & Commissioner

  van Dyck

  None
• Location

  The Queen’s Gallery in Windsor Castle
• Date

  1633
• Style & form

  Oil on canvas, equestrian portrait
• Subject matter/purpose/facts about Charles

  Depicts Charles I riding on white horse through triumphal arch – his first equestrian portrait.

  
  

  As these portraits usually reserved for military leaders, van Dyke may have intended to elevate Charles I status above the hoi polloi (particularly at unstable moment in British history during Civil War), but to also express that piece is metaphor for taming & training nature, intensifying power of leader.

  
  

  Compensate - Could be since his adult height was just 5ft 4inches & suffered from speech impediment.
• Give composition point - pyramidal & movement

  Point: Through van Dyke’s specific compositional structure, viewer immediately drawn to Charles I.

  
  

  Reasoning: Placement of coat of arms on left-hand side of central axis in immediate foreground & figure dressed in red on right flanks Charles I, with him being positioned at higher level on a white horse.

  
  

  Effect: Create pyramidal composition, with King’s head at apex, establishing role as focal point, thus reminding the viewer of van Dyke’s intension with the artwork.

  
  

  Point 2: Idea further reinforced through billowing green drapery, which appears to hang off fluted columns on either side of Charles I.

  
  

  Effects 2: Increases scene’s drama & heightening Charles I and his foreshortened horse’s movement into the scene, almost appearing to break picture due to horse’s bent right knee.

  
• Give point about ancillary (support ish) elements - shield & man

  Point: van Dyke continues to glorify & idealise Charles I through ancillary elements, emphasising authority to rule.

  
  

  Reasoning: The royal coat of arms contains the insignia of England (three lions), Scotland (lion rampant) and Ireland (harp).

  
  

  Effect: Highlighting the unification of the nations under Charles’s I rule.

  
  

  Point/reasoning 2: Also, the figure to the right of Charles I is an expert riding master who had been sent to Charles I by the Kings of France as a diplomatic gift.

  
• Give point about arch & clothing

  Point/effect: Van Dyke continues to emphasise Charles I’s supremacy as military leader through triumphal arch & his clothing, appealing to audience’s sense of history, further engaging them into scene.

  
  

  Reasoning 1: The structure, originally built to celebrate victories in Ancient Rome, implies King is suitable heir of triumphant emperors of classical past.

  
  

  Reasoning 2: His polished armour underlines his authority & blue sash which surroundings his chest expresses he is member of Order of the Garter – one of most prestigious knighthoods in England.

  
• Give MTP point

  Point: Possibly inspired by Charles I love of the arts (collecting many European Renaissance piece during his lifetime) van Dyke utilises the medium of oil paint.

  
  

  Reasoning: Through including rich colours (such the primary colours of red, yellow and blue) and fluid, gestural brushtrokes (such as in the clouds in the distant background, later inspiring Gainsborough).

  
  

  Effect: Increasing the artwork’s sense of grandeur to not only mirror Charles I’s significance, but to also express he was on-trend with other European images of power, such as Rubens’s 1603 “Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Lerma”.