Arthur, Prince of Wales (1486-1502) c. 1500
Oil on panel | 38.8 x 27.9 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 403444
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Prince Arthur is shown wearing a collar composed of red and white Tudor roses and a hat badge, apparently bearing the figure of St John the Baptist. Comparison with a portrait of Henry VIII in the National Portrait Gallery, London may indicate that this depicts Henry, Arthur’s younger brother. The inventories of 1542 and 1547 record portraits of both Prince Arthur and Henry VIII, with a red cap and collar of red and white roses.
Dating the wood panel by looking at the tree-rings suggested a date as early as 1490. If it was a portrait painted from life then a date around 1500 seems more likely, or it may be related to the sets of portraits of early kings possibly commissioned by Henry VII or Henry VIII in c.1500-1520 (for other examples see RCIN 403443, 403435, 403442 and 403436).
The painting appears in Pyne's illustrated 'Royal Residences' of 1819, hanging in The Old Drawing Room at Kensington Palace (RCIN 922153).Provenance
First recorded at Whitehall Palace in the 1542 (no 73); in the Privy Gallery at Whitehall in 1639 (no 30); sold to De la Mare on 28 June 1650 from St James's as part of a group of 31 'pictures of Kings and Princes' (no 218); recovered at the Restoration and listed in the King's Privy Gallery at Whitehall in 1666 (no 118)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on panel
Measurements
38.8 x 27.9 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
48.6 x 37.5 x 4.4 cm (frame, external)
Category
Object type(s)