Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the Church tribunal that rooted out bad behavior. This work by the king's personal court
painter is a rare Spanish nude from that ultra-Catholic country. About the sole concession
to Spanish modesty is the false reflection in the mirror—if it really showed what the angle
should show, Velázquez would have needed two mirrors...and a new job.
• From Room 30, turn left into the big, red Room 31, where you'll see a large canvas.
Van Dyck—
Equestrian Portrait of Charles I
(c. 1637-1638)
King Charles sits on a huge horse, accentuating his power. The horse's small head makes
sure that little Charles isn't dwarfed. Charles was a soft-on-Catholics king in a hard-core
Protestant country until England's Civil War (1648), when his genteel head was separated
from his refined body by Cromwell and company.
