Charles I in Three Positions

This triple portrait painted by Sir Anthony van Dyck had the unusual function of serving as a kind of design for sculpture. In 1636 Charles I dispatched the original painting to the sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini in Rome such that it would assist in making a marble bust. The three viewpoints were chosen to enable the sculptor to create a truly three-dimensional likeness. The sculpture was intended as a papal present to Queen Henrietta Maria. After the bust was finished, the painting remained in the possession of Bernini and passed to his descendants. It was brought back to England in 1802 and entered the Royal Collection in 1822. The bust itself was a great success with the King and Queen. It was eventually destroyed in a fire at Whitehall Palace, London, in 1698.