King Charles I

This painted plaster bust of Charles I was said to have been in a niche on the Old Chichester Cross, Chichester. There have been a number of speculations as to its authorship and it has recently been suggested that this bust was cast from the bronze bust in Chichester by an anonymous sculptor after Hubert Le Sueur in ca. 1638.

Hubert Le Sueur 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. He specialised primarily in bronze.