A Portrait Fit for a King THIS famous, compelling study of
Charles I in three positions never ceases to arrest the viewer
with its great brilliancy and artistry. This is no doubt partly
because we know that the King was so soon to lose his head.
After the execution, it was often said that - based on this
picture - Charles had some glimpse of what lay ahead, but that
is only the stuff of legend. After the King's death, from the
Restoration until the reign of Queen Victoria, prayers were
offered in the Church of England for ``King Charles the
Martyr.'' Certainly some part of the aura which lingered about
this unfortunate man was engendered by the portraits made of him
by his court painter, Sir Anthony Van Dyck. Van Dyck painted
this particular portrait in 1635 and '36.Skip to next paragraph
Subscribe Today to the Monitor An ``adolescent prodigy,'' Van
Dyck (1599-1641) came from the wonderful rich city of Antwerp in
Flanders, where he had studied with Rubens. The two artists had
very different visions, and after