Charles I
May one see it?
Unknown: the museum keeps its counsel
Victoria and Albert Museum
London, United Kingdom
The owner is known. Whether it is on view today, the museum does not say, and we were not trained to guess.
- In this state since
- Sep 25, 2026
- Source
- The museum's own collection data
About the sculpture
The present bust (made ca. 1750-1850) is a later variant of the bronze bust of Charles I by Hubert Le Sueur given to the Bodleian Library Oxford by Archbishop Laud in 1636, and installed in an oval niche in the Library in 1641. It is likely that this bust as well as the version in the National Portrait Gallery were cast from a copy of the Bodleian original, although differences are apparent in the two later versions.
Read on
Hubert Le Sueur (ca. 1590 – after 1658) was the son of a master armourer in Paris, where he became established as a court artist. He was appointed as one of the sculptors to Louis XIII in January 1614. In 1625 he was sent to England to work at the court of Charles I, shortly after the King's marriage to Louis' sister, Henrietta Maria. The use of marble is unique for Le Sueur's portrait busts, as he specialised primarily in bronze. His impressive equestrian bronze portrait of Charles I now in Trafalgar Square is signed and dated 1633.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- A.12-1937
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum: the museum's own open data · fetched 4 days ago
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
