Women in the court of England's King Charles II (1660-1685) -- who were alternately praised for their beauty and despised for their political power and influence -- are the focus of the Yale Center for British Art's newest exhibition, which includes works never before seen in America.
"Painted Ladies: Portraits of Women at the Court of Charles II, 1660-1685," brings together more than 100 portraits of women from the reign of the king, whose court was characterized by splendor, excess, exuberance and glamour. The exhibit opens on Saturday, Jan. 25, and will be on view through March 17.
Co-organized by the Center for British Art and the National Portrait Gallery in London, the exhibit's portraits range from full-length oil paintings to more intimate jewel-like miniatures. Many of the portraits come from private collections. Among the lenders are the Royal Collection and Earl Spencer, whose ancestor, the Earl of Sunderland, assembled what is considered one of the finest collections of 17th-century portraiture in the world.
The Restoration, or the reestablishment of the monarchy of Charles II after the collapse of the commonwealth, was a pivotal period in England's history. Marked by a dramatic increase in overseas trade, the plague of 1665 and the great fire of London in 1666, Charles II's reign also witnessed the birth of England's party politics and violent demonstrations of anti-Catholicism. This period also was a time when literature and drama flourished; theaters were reopened for the first time in over 20 years and women made their first appearance on stage. Poets and playwrights such as William Congreve, John Dryden and John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, celebrated the wit and intellect of Charles II's court.
"'Painted Ladies' is the first exhibition of its kind to highlight the unique role that court women played within the arts of the newly restored monarchy of Charles II," says Julia Marciari Alexander, associate curator of paintings and sculpture and co-curator of the exhibition. "It brings together some of the most exuberant and richly painted portraits of the period in order to explore the lives and reputations of these always fascinating women."
Special sections of the exhibition are devoted to Charles II's most important mistresses: Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, and Louise de Kéroualle, Duchess of Portsmouth. Both were made duchesses in their right, were installed in lavish apartments in the royal palaces, and had their children ennobled. Villiers, the mother of six of the king's numerous illegitimate children, set the standard of fashionable beauty and was painted many times by Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680), who is said to have put something of her appearance into all his portraits.
Kéroualle, sent from France by Louis XIV, was hated by the British people for her nationality and Catholicism, but was King Charles II's most influential and beloved mistress.
Also represented in the exhibit is Nell Gwyn, the comic actress turned mistress of the king. Although many portraits have been given her name, very few can be identified as Gwyn with certainty. Some of the few identified depictions of her are included in the exhibit, which considers the mythology that surrounded her imagery since the Restoration.
The exhibition will also examine the lives and portraits of women with less scandalous reputations: Charles' pious queen, Catherine of Braganza, and other members of her court, as well as women who were patrons of art, political persons or royal princesses.
Together, the images in the exhibition and the texts written about them examine longstanding assumptions about the art and the women of the Restoration, says Alexander. "By hanging the best portraits of the most exemplary women alongside contemporary verbal and very often licentious and derogatory descriptions of them, the viewer will be able to decide whether these are simple, perhaps even gaudy, portraits of oft-believed 'amoral' women or, rather, visual testaments to the power and beauty of successful and knowing painted ladies."
A fully illustrated catalog accompanies the exhibition and is available in hardcover by calling (203) 432-2828.
'On the Ladies of the Court'
A one-day symposium titled "On the Ladies of the Court: Women, Politics, Art and Power at the Court of Charles II" is being offered in conjunction with the exhibition.
The event, on Saturday, Jan. 26, will assess assumptions about the art of the Restoration period and the cultural politics of the time. It will be held 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. in the lecture hall of the Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St. Admission is free, and the public is welcome.
The symposium will address various literary, historical and cultural aspects of the Restoration court. Papers will be presented on subjects ranging from the politics of portraiture and the erotics of theater to the ways in which royal women, mistresses, actresses and female courtiers were portrayed, both during their lifetimes and in later centuries.
Speakers at the event include Yale faculty members Annabel Patterson and Joseph R. Roach. Alexander and co-curator Catharine MacLeod of the National Portrait Gallery in London will also be featured, as well as guest scholars.
The Yale Center for British Art is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, noon-5 p.m. Admission is free. For further information on the exhibit or symposium, call (203) 432-2800 or visit the center's website at www.yale.edu/ycba.
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