Art Insights — Charles I At The Hunt by Anthony van Dyck

A closer look at the painting of the famous Flemish painter who made his name in England.

King Charles I of England had a reign that saw a tragic end for himself. He was a king of England, Scotland, and Ireland and none of these lands had much love for Charles I. Largely, it was because he was a strong proponent of the belief that a king has a divine right, and a monarch should hold absolute power over his kingdom and its people. Internal conflicts with parliament and foreign wars eventually ignited the English Civil War, and it cost Charles I his head. He was executed on 30 January 1649.

A lesser remembered fact about Charles I — was his love of art. He was an avid art collector, and in 1632, the Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck was invited to the king’s court to become a court painter. Having the king’s favor, Van Dyck enjoyed a comfortable life in London, working on a series of portrait paintings, depicting Charles I. One such portrait was the Charles I At The Hunt.

Charles I At The Hunt (1635) by Anthony van Dyck. Oil on canvas, 266 cm x 207 cm. Source: Wikipedia Commons.

This portrait stood out from all the other paintings, depicting Charles I. Van Dyck portrays the king in a more informal manner, showing a slightly careless scene, while still raising no questions about the royal presence of the person on canvas. Although Charles I was a man of small stature and he felt shy about his height, van Dyck removes any possible impressions that the king might lack height. He looks taller than both of his servants, who take care of his horse in the background. The Flemish painter was no fool, and van Dyck clearly understood what his painting needs to have to please the king.

The figure of the king is placed high above everything else. Far away in the background, you can see a blurred image of a ship cruising near the coast. Van Dyck depicts an almost black hat on the head of Charles I so there would be a clear distinction between the sky and the king’s face. The painter’s play with light is clearly visible, as the figure of Charles I stands in a bright spot while his horse and servants were left in the shadows. It just adds the impression that the king’s figure is what the viewer’s eye must catch instantly, and everything else are just attributes, overshadowed by his presence.

The mood of this painting is light and careless. The pose of the king suggests that he was looking around in a different direction, but at one point, Charles I turns his sight towards the viewer’s eye. It seems like a quick look around, filled with a slight dose of snobbism and true royal confidence. You can clearly see that van Dyck depicted a self-confident and self-loving figure.

In modern-day understanding, Charles I At The Hunt can be described as a propaganda tool. And indeed, Charles I saw art as a tool to display the might and beauty of monarchy in full blossom. Van Dyck managed to portray the king as a powerful and majestic figure in informal clothing, without adding any of the traditional monarch’s accessories — crown, mantle, and scepter. No wonder that Flemish master was eventually awarded a knighthood and buried in St Paul’s Cathedral after his death in 1641.

However, this undoubtedly beautiful tool of propaganda did not save Charles I from his arrest and the eventual beheading in front of his once loyal servants. During his reign, the King of England managed to acquire a large number of paintings, and his collection had more than 2000 artworks. After the king’s execution, his opponents sold many of these works while also melting the gold and silver jewelry. His son, Charles II, tried to regain some of the sold paintings after the restoration of the monarchy, but most of the works never found their way back to the royal collection.

The legacy of Anthony van Dyck did not suffer much from all the internal problems that haunted England. He died shortly before the outbreak of the English Civil War, and his works set the standard for many upcoming English painters in the following centuries. Van Dyck’s name stands strong among the greatest painters of the Baroque period.

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