Portret van Karel I, koning van Engeland 1782

This is Robert Strange’s ‘Portret van Karel I, koning van Engeland’. The print connects us to the complex history of British monarchy and its relationship with its subjects during the 18th century. Robert Strange, a Scottish engraver, lived in a time of political and artistic shifts. His Jacobite sympathies influenced his choice to immortalize Charles I. The portrait presents Charles not just as a king, but as a figure imbued with a sense of melancholy and nobility. The imagery evokes questions around the power, legitimacy, and the cost of leadership. What did it mean to Strange to portray Charles in this manner, given his own political beliefs? How does the emotional depth of the portrait invite us to reflect on the human dimensions of leadership and the burdens of the crown?