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Whitehall Palace

Whitehall Palace was Charles I’s principal residence and located on the bank of the River Thames. A complex assembly of mainly Tudor buildings, it comprised more than 2,000 rooms. In his memoirs, one 17th-century visitor described it as ‘…the largest and ugliest palace in Europe’.

The Palace was largely destroyed by a fire in 1698. The Banqueting House designed by Inigo Jones is the only substantial part to survive today. Inside, the grand ceiling decorations that Peter Paul Rubens finished for Charles I in 1636, still occupy their original positions. 

Whitehall Palace housed many of Charles’s important artworks. Highlights included a large collection of Italian and Northern Renaissance paintings, a series of portraits from the Tudor period, and cabinets of curiosities. 

The Rooms

Three so-called Privy Lodging Rooms were inventoried around 1639 by the Keeper of the king's collection, Abraham van der Doort. These rooms were carefully curated and contained a significant number of Charles's most cherished paintings. A whole room was devoted to Titian, while Raphael, Antonio da Correggio, Giulio Romano and Andrea del Sarto also featured highly. Their contents make up just a tiny portion of the king’s vast art collection, which was placed on display throughout Whitehall Palace and other royal residences. Only a limited number of these rooms' artworks remain in the Royal Collection today. 

The privileged few were granted access to these Privy Lodging Rooms. They were situated in the most secluded part of the Palace - on the first floor and close to the king’s Cabinet Room, Breakfast Chamber, and Bedchamber. Many of these pictures came from three important events in the history of the collection: 

1. Charles I’s 1623 trip to the Spanish court. 

2. The purchase of the Dukes of Mantua’s collection in around 1627-8. 

3. The delivery of 23 Italian paintings in 1637 by the dealer William Frizell.

Charles’s advisors, especially George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, were experienced art collectors who had travelled throughout Europe. With their help, Charles amassed a collection often credited with bringing the Renaissance to England. 

The First Privy Lodging Room

In 1623, Charles and Villiers travelled to Madrid to secure a marriage between Charles and the Infanta Maria Anna, the daughter of Philip III. During this visit, they viewed a special suite of rooms devoted almost entirely to Titian at the Spanish Royal Alcázar. Although the courtship was unsuccessful, Charles returned to England captivated by Titian’s mythological paintings and influenced by the picture hangs that he had seen. The first Privy Lodging Room contained 11 paintings ascribed to Titian, although some have since been reattributed to other artists. The subjects of these paintings ranged from the deeply sacred to the overtly erotic. 

The display included a portrait of Titian himself. In Titian and his Friends, the figure on the left is based on a self-portrait of the artist made around 1550 and now at the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. It shows Titian aged around 70 years old, and in profile. He wears a fur-lined gown, a black nightcap and a gold chain. The chain was given to Titian in 1533 by Emperor Charles V, after he bestowed upon him the honour of knighthood. In the 17th century, as artists were increasingly honoured with privileges and titles, collections dedicated to artist self-portraits began to emerge. Charles I was one of the first people to actively collect and display portraits of artists. Among his acquisitions were examples by some of the most acclaimed painters of the period, including Artemisia Gentileschi, Peter Paul Rubens and Daniel Mytens. 

Learn more about Titian and his Friends in our Collection Online. 

The Second Privy Lodging Room

The second Privy Lodging Room contained 19 paintings, many of which were attributed to Titian. One of the highlights in this room was The Lovers. Its composition and puzzling subject matter reflects Titian’s influence by Giorgione, a defining figure of the Venetian school. Giorgione was well-known for the poetic and elusive quality of his work. The subject of The Lovers has been debated, but it is probably a scene from Renaissance literature. It may depict a man feeling for the beat of a woman's heart after she has fainted, or a woman resting against her lover in ecstasy. 

Read more about possible sources for this painting in our Collection Online. 

The second Privy Lodging Room also contained several works by Giulio Romano, a pupil of Raphael and forerunner of the early Mannerist style. 

The Birth of Diana and Apollo is one of four paintings in the Royal Collection, which are thought to have belonged to a series of between 16 and 18 panels of similar dimensions by Romano. All were acquired by Charles I. 

Each panel depicts a scene from mythology. The subject of this painting comes from Ovid’s Metamorphosis. Latona, the goddess of motherhood, rests under a tent after giving birth to the twins Apollo and Diana on the island of Delos. 

Many masterpieces of the Royal Collection can be seen on a visit to Windsor Castle. 

Before entering the Royal Collection, some of Romano’s paintings had previously belonged to an elaborate decorative scheme for the state apartments in the Palazzo Ducale, Mantua. Here, they were displayed alongside portraits of Roman Emperors by Titian. One such painting is Romano’s Sacrifice of the Goat to Jupiter below. At the centre of the scene, one woman tends to the altar fire beneath a statue of Jupiter, while another prepares the goat for sacrifice. It seems fitting that the painting would have been hung above the second Privy Lodging Room’s fireplace.

Read more about the Sacrifice of the Goat to Jupiter in our Collection Online. 

The Third Privy Lodging Room

The third Privy Lodging Room, also known as the Square Table Room, contained 15 paintings attributed to Italian Renaissance masters, such as Raphael, Correggio, Parmigianino and Andrea del Sarto. 

The room’s hang was themed around family and upbringing. Out of the 15 paintings, there were 8 family scenes. One of the most striking works would have been the Madonna and Child with St Anne by Raphael bought from Mantua, now in the Museo del Prado. 

This work is better known as La Perla, so named as on its later arrival into Spain, Philip V is said to have referred to it as his ‘pearl’. In the Sale inventory, which was drawn up in preparation for selling the collection after Charles's execution, La Perla was valued at an impressive £2,000, the highest value of any painting in the collection.

Research for a project into Charles I’s Lost Collection was carried out by Niko Munz while at Royal Collection Trust (2016-2019). Niko Munz continues to consult on queries and research relating to the project.