Description
A watercolour of the interior of St George's Hall, Windsor Castle, before the significant alterations made by Jeffry Wyatville, showing Verrio's Baroque paintings on the walls and ceiling with Charles II enthroned in Garter robes. Trompe l'oeil corinthian columns divided the walls into bays and there are gilded stucco walls in the window bays. Prepared for one of the plates in William Henry Pyne's History of the Royal Residences (1816-1819). Engraved by W. I.[J?] Bennett; the print was published on 1 December 1816.
The entry in John Evelyn's diary for 3 September 1685 records his great pleasure at a visit to St George's Hall, Windsor Castle. It had been completed only the previous year. This, and the adjoining space, the King's Chapel, were designed to be the most impressive and important spaces in the new State Apartments recast by Hugh May. From 1675 to 1684, Verrio painted 12 rooms and three staircases in the King's State Apartment, and six rooms and the Great Stairs in the Queen's State Apartment. The iconographic programme, common to decorative shemes commissioned for most continental European baroque palaces, uncompromisingly celebrated the quasi-divine status of the prince or monarch. At Windsor, Verrio went further and placed Charles II himself as the great saviour.
Text adapted from Charles II: Art & Power, London, 2017
Descriptive Medium: 'Pencil and watercolour with touches of bodycolour', 'pencil, watercolour, bodycolour (touches of)', 'drawing, watercolour painting'
Image Licence
All Rights Reserved
Image Credit
© Royal Collection Trust
Location
Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England
Country
England
Tags
Category
Buildings & Architecture
