On 15 October 1651 Charles II escaped from England in a coal-brig called the Surprise which he later purchased, converted into a yacht and renamed The Royal Escape. In this imagined re-enactment of the event, painted well after the King’s Restoration in 1660, the yacht represents the heroism of his escape from the storm clouds of rebellion towards the blue skies of a safe haven. Painted for Charles II No. 26