Sir Anthony van Dyck
(Antwerpen 1599–1641 London)
Charles II as the Prince of Wales
oil on canvas
158.8 x 109.2 cm (62½ x 43 in.)
1641
‘If Holbein […] recorded the court of Henry VIII, then van Dyck might be said to have invented the court of Charles I […].’
Walter A. Liedtke, ‘Anthony van Dyck’, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 42, no. 3, Winter 1984–1885, p. 45
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Artwork details
Painted at a time of political turbulence, this portrait of the eleven-year-old Prince of Wales stands as the poignant final act of Sir Anthony van Dyck’s illustrious career. Executed just months before the artist’s death and the subsequent descent of England into civil war, this work captures the Stuart heir to the throne on the threshold of historical upheaval. This portrait of the young Charles, depicted in armour and wearing the Order of the Garter, signals a deliberate departure from the gentle innocence of Van Dyck’s earlier group portraits of the royal children. It also captures the artist’s talent in the field of child portraiture, cultivated ever since his formative years in Genoa. Here, the Prince is invested with a martial gravitas and a commanding staff of office—an iconographic assertion of royal legitimacy and dynastic succession intended to bolster the monarchy’s image as it faced mounting criticism and inevitable collapse.
The provenance of this painting is as dramatic as the era that it documents, likely remaining in Van Dyck’s Blackfriars studio among his personal effects at the time of his death in December 1641. Protracted litigation over property bequeathed to his widow ensued and the early history of the painting is not known for certain. As Oliver Millar suggested, the commission may have come from the House of Orange following the marriage of Charles’ sister Princess Mary to William, Prince of Orange (1626–1650). For reasons unknown it was never delivered to their court in The Hague.
While the portrait is firmly documented at Raynham Hall, Norfolk, in the Townshend family inventories by the early nineteenth century, its presence likely dates back much earlier, to the Restoration of 1660, an era defined by the staunch loyalty of Sir Horatio Townshend, 3rd Baronet and later 1st Viscount Townshend (1630–1687). Sir Horatio was among the elite group chosen to escort Charles back from exile in the Netherlands and was later honoured with a royal visit to Raynham by the King himself in 1671. This portrait must therefore have been a potent emblem for a family whose fortunes were inextricably bound to the triumph of the Stuart dynasty.
Characterised by delicate, fresh modelling of the features and a sophisticated, cool tonal palette, the Portrait of Charles II as Prince of Wales bears witness to the twilight of the Carolean age, bridging the gap between the refined culture of Charles I’s court and the turbulent future of the sitter. While the young Prince would soon trade his ceremonial armour for the grit of the battlefield and the long years of exile on the continent, Van Dyck’s perceptive likeness captures the last glimmer of his childhood authority.
Probably commissioned by King Charles I (1600–1649), before 9 August 1641, when the Prince was carried by barge from Lambeth to Van Dyck’s Whitehall studio;
Probably Sir Horatio Townshend, 3rd Bt and later 1st Viscount Townshend (1630–1687), Raynham Hall, Norfolk;
Thence probably by descent to Field Marshall George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend (1724–1807), Raynham Hall, Norfolk;
By descent to his son George Townshend, 2nd Marquess Townshend (1753–1811), Raynham Hall, Norfolk;
By descent to John Stuart Townshend, 6th Marquess Townshend (1866–1921), Raynham Hall, Norfolk;
His sale (‘Catalogue of the Townshend Heirlooms’), Christie’s, London, 7 March 1904, lot 191 (as D. Mytens), for 460 guineas, to Agnews;
With Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd, London;
From whom acquired by Robert (1850–1929) and Evelyn Benson (1856–1943), Bockhurst Park, Sussex;
By whom given to their daughter Margaret Winifred Benson (1892–1976) and son-in-law Sir Hereward Wake (1876–1963), Courteenhall, Northamptonshire, in 1927;
Thence by inheritance;
Anonymous sale (‘Property from an English Private Collection’), Sotheby’s, London, 5 December 2018, lot 29;
Where acquired by The Klesch Collection.
London, Royal Academy, Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters and Deceased Masters of the British School, Winter Exhibition, 1910, no. 126 (lent by R.H. Benson Esq.);
London, Royal Academy, British Portraits, Winter Exhibition, 1956–57, no. 79 (as attributed to Sir Anthony van Dyck and lent by Major Hereward Wake);
London, Thomas Agnew & Sons, Sir Anthony van Dyck, 7 November – 7 December 1968, no. 61 (lent by Sir Hereward Wake, Bt);
London, National Portrait Gallery, Van Dyck in England, 19 November 1982 – 20 March 1983, no. 63 (lent by Sir Hereward Wake, Bt);
Hamburg, Bucerius Kunst Forum, Kinder! Kinder! Zwischen Repräsentation und Wirklichkeit (Kids! Between Representation and Reality), 28 November 2025 – 6 April 2026, no. 10.
Townshend Cat. of Pictures, MS 1738, 23 September 1738, Ingalls Library, Cleveland Museum of Art;
(probably) Catalog of pictures at Raynham Hall, 177[?], Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University, LWL MS file 28;
‘Inventory of Pictures belonging to the Most Noble Marquis of Townshend and Leicester at Raynham Hall. A.D. 1810’, in The Collection of Pictures at Raynham Hall […], compiled with historical notes by James Durham, 1926, p. 6 (as ‘A pair of Whole Length Portraits of Chas. II and his Sister, by Mytens. £21.0.0. [in the drawing room]’);
‘Pictures at Raynham Hall (Sold 1904)’, in The Collection of Pictures at Raynham Hall […], compiled with historical notes by James Durham, 1926, p. 26 (as ‘Portrait of Charles II. When a boy […] D. Mytens’);
Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters and Deceased Masters of the British School, Winter Exhibition, exh. cat., Royal Academy, London 1910, p. 36, no. 126;
F.D. Singh, Portraits in Norfolk Houses, Norwich [1928], vol. II, p. 200, no. 13 (as Daniel Mytens);
British Portraits, Winter Exhibition, exh. cat., Royal Academy, London 1956, p. 41, no. 79 (as attributed to Sir Anthony van Dyck);
Sir Anthony van Dyck, exh. cat., Thomas Agnew & Sons, London 1968, p. 59, no. 61;
E. Larsen, L’opera completa di Van Dyck, Milan 1980, vol. II, p. 127, no. 978, repr. p. 126;
O. Millar in Van Dyck in England, exh. cat., National Portrait Gallery, London 1982, p. 103, no. 63, repr. p. 102;
E. Larsen, The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck, Freren 1988, vol. II, p. 316, no. 800, repr.;
K.M. Gibson, ‘Best Belov’d of Kings’. The iconography of King Charles II, Ph.D. diss., Courtauld Institute of Art, London 1997, vol. I, pp. 21–22; vol. II, p. 279, no. 161; vol. III, repr. fig. 23;
S.J. Barnes, N. de Poorter, O. Millar and H. Vey, Van Dyck. A complete catalogue of the paintings, New Haven and London 2004, p. 484, no. IV.68, repr.;
A. Busiakiewicz, Armour in the British Portraits of Sir Anthony van Dyck, MA diss., Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London 2014, p. 44, repr. p. 103, fig. 51;
K. Dyballa in Kinder, Kinder! Zwischen Repräsentation und Wirklichkeit (Kids! Between Representation and Reality), K. Dyballa (ed.), exh. cat., Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg 2025, pp. 70–71, no. 10, repr.
If you would like to use this image for educational purposes, please contact us.
Hover to zoom to maximum level or click to enlarge
Sir Anthony van Dyck
(Antwerpen 1599–1641 London)
Charles II as the Prince of Wales
oil on canvas
158.8 x 109.2 cm (62½ x 43 in.)
1641
‘If Holbein […] recorded the court of Henry VIII, then van Dyck might be said to have invented the court of Charles I […].’
Walter A. Liedtke, ‘Anthony van Dyck’, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 42, no. 3, Winter 1984–1885, p. 45
Artwork details
Painted at a time of political turbulence, this portrait of the eleven-year-old Prince of Wales stands as the poignant final act of Sir Anthony van Dyck’s illustrious career. Executed just months before the artist’s death and the subsequent descent of England into civil war, this work captures the Stuart heir to the throne on the threshold of historical upheaval. This portrait of the young Charles, depicted in armour and wearing the Order of the Garter, signals a deliberate departure from the gentle innocence of Van Dyck’s earlier group portraits of the royal children. It also captures the artist’s talent in the field of child portraiture, cultivated ever since his formative years in Genoa. Here, the Prince is invested with a martial gravitas and a commanding staff of office—an iconographic assertion of royal legitimacy and dynastic succession intended to bolster the monarchy’s image as it faced mounting criticism and inevitable collapse.
The provenance of this painting is as dramatic as the era that it documents, likely remaining in Van Dyck’s Blackfriars studio among his personal effects at the time of his death in December 1641. Protracted litigation over property bequeathed to his widow ensued and the early history of the painting is not known for certain. As Oliver Millar suggested, the commission may have come from the House of Orange following the marriage of Charles’ sister Princess Mary to William, Prince of Orange (1626–1650). For reasons unknown it was never delivered to their court in The Hague.
While the portrait is firmly documented at Raynham Hall, Norfolk, in the Townshend family inventories by the early nineteenth century, its presence likely dates back much earlier, to the Restoration of 1660, an era defined by the staunch loyalty of Sir Horatio Townshend, 3rd Baronet and later 1st Viscount Townshend (1630–1687). Sir Horatio was among the elite group chosen to escort Charles back from exile in the Netherlands and was later honoured with a royal visit to Raynham by the King himself in 1671. This portrait must therefore have been a potent emblem for a family whose fortunes were inextricably bound to the triumph of the Stuart dynasty.
Characterised by delicate, fresh modelling of the features and a sophisticated, cool tonal palette, the Portrait of Charles II as Prince of Wales bears witness to the twilight of the Carolean age, bridging the gap between the refined culture of Charles I’s court and the turbulent future of the sitter. While the young Prince would soon trade his ceremonial armour for the grit of the battlefield and the long years of exile on the continent, Van Dyck’s perceptive likeness captures the last glimmer of his childhood authority.
Probably commissioned by King Charles I (1600–1649), before 9 August 1641, when the Prince was carried by barge from Lambeth to Van Dyck’s Whitehall studio;
Probably Sir Horatio Townshend, 3rd Bt and later 1st Viscount Townshend (1630–1687), Raynham Hall, Norfolk;
Thence probably by descent to Field Marshall George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend (1724–1807), Raynham Hall, Norfolk;
By descent to his son George Townshend, 2nd Marquess Townshend (1753–1811), Raynham Hall, Norfolk;
By descent to John Stuart Townshend, 6th Marquess Townshend (1866–1921), Raynham Hall, Norfolk;
His sale (‘Catalogue of the Townshend Heirlooms’), Christie’s, London, 7 March 1904, lot 191 (as D. Mytens), for 460 guineas, to Agnews;
With Thomas Agnew & Sons Ltd, London;
From whom acquired by Robert (1850–1929) and Evelyn Benson (1856–1943), Bockhurst Park, Sussex;
By whom given to their daughter Margaret Winifred Benson (1892–1976) and son-in-law Sir Hereward Wake (1876–1963), Courteenhall, Northamptonshire, in 1927;
Thence by inheritance;
Anonymous sale (‘Property from an English Private Collection’), Sotheby’s, London, 5 December 2018, lot 29;
Where acquired by The Klesch Collection.
London, Royal Academy, Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters and Deceased Masters of the British School, Winter Exhibition, 1910, no. 126 (lent by R.H. Benson Esq.);
London, Royal Academy, British Portraits, Winter Exhibition, 1956–57, no. 79 (as attributed to Sir Anthony van Dyck and lent by Major Hereward Wake);
London, Thomas Agnew & Sons, Sir Anthony van Dyck, 7 November – 7 December 1968, no. 61 (lent by Sir Hereward Wake, Bt);
London, National Portrait Gallery, Van Dyck in England, 19 November 1982 – 20 March 1983, no. 63 (lent by Sir Hereward Wake, Bt);
Hamburg, Bucerius Kunst Forum, Kinder! Kinder! Zwischen Repräsentation und Wirklichkeit (Kids! Between Representation and Reality), 28 November 2025 – 6 April 2026, no. 10.
Townshend Cat. of Pictures, MS 1738, 23 September 1738, Ingalls Library, Cleveland Museum of Art;
(probably) Catalog of pictures at Raynham Hall, 177[?], Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University, LWL MS file 28;
‘Inventory of Pictures belonging to the Most Noble Marquis of Townshend and Leicester at Raynham Hall. A.D. 1810’, in The Collection of Pictures at Raynham Hall […], compiled with historical notes by James Durham, 1926, p. 6 (as ‘A pair of Whole Length Portraits of Chas. II and his Sister, by Mytens. £21.0.0. [in the drawing room]’);
‘Pictures at Raynham Hall (Sold 1904)’, in The Collection of Pictures at Raynham Hall […], compiled with historical notes by James Durham, 1926, p. 26 (as ‘Portrait of Charles II. When a boy […] D. Mytens’);
Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters and Deceased Masters of the British School, Winter Exhibition, exh. cat., Royal Academy, London 1910, p. 36, no. 126;
F.D. Singh, Portraits in Norfolk Houses, Norwich [1928], vol. II, p. 200, no. 13 (as Daniel Mytens);
British Portraits, Winter Exhibition, exh. cat., Royal Academy, London 1956, p. 41, no. 79 (as attributed to Sir Anthony van Dyck);
Sir Anthony van Dyck, exh. cat., Thomas Agnew & Sons, London 1968, p. 59, no. 61;
E. Larsen, L’opera completa di Van Dyck, Milan 1980, vol. II, p. 127, no. 978, repr. p. 126;
O. Millar in Van Dyck in England, exh. cat., National Portrait Gallery, London 1982, p. 103, no. 63, repr. p. 102;
E. Larsen, The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck, Freren 1988, vol. II, p. 316, no. 800, repr.;
K.M. Gibson, ‘Best Belov’d of Kings’. The iconography of King Charles II, Ph.D. diss., Courtauld Institute of Art, London 1997, vol. I, pp. 21–22; vol. II, p. 279, no. 161; vol. III, repr. fig. 23;
S.J. Barnes, N. de Poorter, O. Millar and H. Vey, Van Dyck. A complete catalogue of the paintings, New Haven and London 2004, p. 484, no. IV.68, repr.;
A. Busiakiewicz, Armour in the British Portraits of Sir Anthony van Dyck, MA diss., Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London 2014, p. 44, repr. p. 103, fig. 51;
K. Dyballa in Kinder, Kinder! Zwischen Repräsentation und Wirklichkeit (Kids! Between Representation and Reality), K. Dyballa (ed.), exh. cat., Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg 2025, pp. 70–71, no. 10, repr.
If you would like to use this image for educational purposes, please contact us.