During his reign the British King Charles I set about assembling an art collection to surpass all others. In the aftermath of the King’s execution in 1649 this world-class collection was sold under the Commonwealth government and scattered throughout Europe.
Following the 2018 exhibition Charles I: King and Collector, a collaboration between Royal Collection Trust and the Royal Academy of Arts, Royal Collection Trust has launched a new database, which attempts to reconstruct the lost collection. The database is hosted on Royal Collection Trust’s website and shows each artwork’s seventeenth-century location during Charles I’s reign, provenance prior to this if applicable and the current location of the picture where known. ‘The Lost Collection of Charles I’ has benefited from the collaboration of almost 60 public institutions as well as numerous private collectors and auction houses. The database also includes navigable 3D visualizations of three of the most important rooms in Whitehall Palace and historical information on the collection and its inventories.
‘The Lost Collection of Charles I’ can be accessed at https://lostcollection.rct.uk
Screenshot from the digitally reconstructed Second Privy Room. Dosso Dossi’s Saint William can be seen hanging above door. The picture was thought to be a portrait of the last Duke of Burgundy by Michiel Coxie.