Pewsey Vale Arts Society May lecture – Charles 1 – King and Collector.

2.30pm, Tuesday May 6th, Bouverie Hall, Pewsey

Barbara Askew will speak on Charles 1 – King and Collector.

This lecture celebrates the 400th Anniversary of Charles I’s accession to the throne in 1625. Charles I’s obsession for collecting works of art began when, as a 22-year-old prince, he travelled to Spain and saw the magnificent collection of the Spanish king, Philip IV.  On becoming King in 1625 Charles purchased the fabulous collection of the Gonzaga Dukes of Mantua which included works by Titian, Raphael and Andrea Mantegna’s astonishing series of paintings “The Triumphs of Caesar”.  Charles engaged Peter Paul Rubens to paint the ceiling of the Banqueting House in Whitehall and he appointed Anthony van Dyck as his Court Artist.  By the end of his reign Charles had amassed over 2000 works of art but in doing so he had bankrupted England and alienated his people.  His life ended on the scaffold in 1649 and most of the collection was sold in what was known as “The Commonwealth Sale” in 1650. While many works were retrieved by Charles 2nd during the Restoration, others now hang in the great Art Galleries of Europe.

Barbara Askew is an historian and has been a London Blue Badge Guide since 1988. She is a Lecturer, Examiner and Course Director on Blue Badge Guide Training Courses and an acknowledged expert on Royalty and Windsor Castle and the only Blue Badge Guide accredited to guide the Albert Memorial. 

For more information about us, please visit our website:   taspv.org.uk

Doors open at 2.00pm and non-members are always welcome – £7 card or cash on arrival.