New pictures at Hampton Court
February 14 2011
Two rarely seen Royal Collection portraits are now on display at Hampton Court Palace. They've been up for a while, but I've only just got round to seeing them. Both are well worth the trip, and well done to the curators at Historic Royal Palaces for securing their loan.
On the left is John Michael Wright's magnificent portrait of the freshly restored Charles II, painted in about 1661. It is one of the finest royal portraits of the seventeenth century, by one of my favourite artists. Wright is often overlooked, being squeezed between Van Dyck and Lely. At his best, however, he comes close to the former, and beats the latter.
On the right is the Giant Porter, painted in 1580. I posted on this earlier, but it's difficult to get a sense of its scale unless you actually see it - it's enormous. To a Tudor viewer it/he must have been terrifying.
On the Royal Collection website you can zoom in on Charles II here, and the Giant here.
