Portrait of King Charles I, bust-length, in armour wearing the Garter Ribbon and the Lesser Georgeoil on canvas74 x 62cmProvenance:At an unknown date entered the collection at Castletown House, County Kildare, Ireland,Castletown House Sale, Jackson-Stops & McCabe, 20th April 1966 and following days, 2nd day of sale, 21st April 1966, lot 342, as 'Attributed to Wissing', when acquired by the parents of the present ownerFootnote: The attribution - based on photographs - to Jan van Belcamp, was proposed by the late Sir Oliver Millar in 2006 at which time he drew a comparison with a signed portrait by the artist at Longford Castle - presumably the painting formerly there of King Charles I attributed to van Dyck (see H. Radnor, Catalogue of the Pictures in the Collection of the Earl of Radnor, 1901, vol. 1, p. 15, no. 24) The ex-Longford portrait is presumed to be that now in an American private collection that was on long loan from 1961 to 1995 to the Phoenix Art Museum (see E. Larsen, van Dyck, vol. I, p. 296, pl. 293, and vol. II, p. 311, no. 785. - where a slightly different size is given to that in the Longford catalogue). Larsen in 1988 seems to have been unaware, as Millar claimed to be in 2006, that the Longford portrait was apparently signed by Belcamp - a rare occurrence as he was generally copying other pictures in the collection of the King.In 2006, Sir Oliver wrote: "The portrait is clearly dependent on van Dyck and in particular on the portrait of 1637; a very popular image of which the probable original is in Dresden" (see E.A. Seemann, Katalog der ausgestellten Werke, 1992, p. 189, no. 1038). In that portrait, the King is wearing garter robes and Millar suggested "the armour etc. could be his [Belcamp's] own invention. One should date the work, I think, to the 1640s." The Dresden composition was much repeated by van Dyck's studio of which a fine example still in the Royal Collection, hangs today at Kensington Palace. According to the parents of the present owner, who acquired the painting at the Castletown sale of 1966, the portrait may have been taken to Ireland after the Restoration of Charles II by Sir Abraham Yarner (c. 1598-1677). Yarner, though a soldier in Ireland in the 1640s during the Irish Rebellion, was later sent back, when in 1661 he was appointed Commissary-General of the Musters for the King's Army in Ireland. After Yarner's death in Dublin in 1677, how and when the portrait could subsequently have been acquired for Castletown is unknown. A possible alternative for it being in the collection of Castletown - which was not being built until 1722-c.1729 by Speaker William Conolly (1662-1729) - is that the latter's great-nephew Thomas (1738-1803) who inherited the great house, was married in 1758 to Lady Louisa Lennox (1743-1821) great-granddaughter of Charles II and thus great-great-granddaughter of the sitter in the present lot. It could be equally possible that the present portrait entered the collection at Castletown via Lady Louisa's mother-in-law, who was Lady Anne Wentworth, daughter of Thomas Wentworth, 1672-1739 (1st Earl Strafford of the 3rd creation) who was descended from the brother of King Charles I's favourite Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford (1593-1641) who was Lord Deputy in Ireland from 1632 to 1640.Though Belcamp is known to have been employed at the court of Charles I to generally copy paintings particularly by van Dyck, he was in 1649 after the King's death, appointed to the commission set up to sell the King's goods (H. Walpole, Anecdotes of painting in England, with some account of the principal artists, Volume II, 1849, pp.359-60). Another portrait of Charles I of almost identical composition other than in detail and in a painted oval (74.5 x 58.5cm) was sold at Sotheby's, London on 6th December 2012, lot 352, for £32,450 as from the Studio of Honthorst. As however Honthorst was only in England in 1628, an attribution also to Jan van Belcamp is perhaps more plausible.Condition report: Oil on canvas which has been lined, there is a thick layer of gritty adhesive present on the reverse of the lining canvas and the cut edges of the original are visible in the frame. The paint layers are in a good stable condition overall. Losses and abrasion around the edge of the canvas have been retouched. The overpaint has darkened over time and is now very apparent, especially along the lower edge. There is some overpaint and reinforcement of the hair but the sitter’s face appears to be in a good condition. The varnish layer has yellowed with age and is slightly matte and uneven in appearance.
