Framed Charles I in Three Positions by Anthony van Dyck

Charles I in Three Positions by Anthony van Dyck is an elegant and unconventional triple portrait of the English king, showing him from the left, right, and full face. Painted in Van Dyck’s refined Baroque style, the work was commissioned to send to the Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who would use it as a reference to carve a marble bust of Charles I. Each view is rendered with meticulous detail, from the shimmering silk and lace of the king’s attire to the naturalistic textures of his hair and beard, projecting both regal authority and a human intimacy. Against a subdued background, the three poses reveal different facets of Charles’s personality—dignified, contemplative, and commanding—while also serving a practical purpose for the sculptor’s work. Today, the portrait is celebrated as both a masterful study of a royal sitter and a rare example of a painting created to guide another artist’s medium.