The Story
Charles I in Three Positions, also known as the Triple Portrait of Charles I, is an oil painting of King Charles I of England painted in 1635–1636 by the Flemish artist Sir Anthony van Dyck, showing the King from three viewpoints: left full profile, face on, and right three-quarter profile. It is currently part of the Royal Collection. The colours of the costumes and pattern of the lace collars are different in each portrait, though the blue riband of the Order of the Garter is present in all three.
The painting was probably begun in the latter part of 1635 and was sent to Rome in 1636 to be used as a reference work for the Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini to create a marble bust of Charles I. Pope Urban VIII sent the bust to Charles's queen Henrietta Maria in 1638 in the hope of encouraging a reconciliation of the Roman Catholic Church with the Church of England. The bust was presented in 1637 and admired for its workmanship and likeness to the King. Charles rewarded Bernini with a valuable diamond ring.
Executed in oil on canvas, measuring Framed: 153.7 x 130.2 x 105.4 cm (60 1/2 x 51 1/4 x 41 1/2 in.); Unframed: 116.8 x 96.3 cm (46 x 37 15/16 in.), the surface rewards close looking. Anthony van Dyck builds the composition through layered glazes and a tightly controlled palette, letting cool shadows recede so that the warm, lit passages step forward. The brushwork shifts from the precise to the almost dissolved — a hallmark of mature Baroque practice.
“A silence so complete it becomes its own witness.”
