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Charles II of England as Prince of Wales, by Justus van Egmont (Dutch, 1601–1674), 1630. caption, National Portrait Gallery: This is the earliest known portrait of the future King, painted, according to the inscription in French between the curtains, when he was four months and fifteen days old. At this age he was described by his mother, Henrietta Maria, as 'so fat and so tall that he is taken for a year old'. The painting was probably sent to the prince's godmother and grandmother, Marie de' Medici, Queen Mother of France. The dog, held by the ear, is a toy spaniel, a breed which later came to be associated with Charles as King.
Charles II of England by John Michael Wright
Until the end of the nineteenth century, little boys were kept "in skirts" well past weaning. The moment of transition, when boys left off skirts, was called "breeching" and depending on the time period, came as late as six or seven. (In the 1780s, when Marie Antoinette's sons were born, she popularized a simpler attire for little boys between the ages of three to about seven: plain trousers that buttoned onto a short jacket, which was worn over a collared shirt. But by the 1820s boys were again in skirts.)
William III Prince of Orange, by Adriaen Hanneman (Dutch, circa 1604-1671), 1654. (age 4)
Esmé Stuart, 5th Duke of Lennox and 2nd Duke of Richmond, attributed to Jan Weesop (Flemish, active in England), 1653.
Young Moor with arrow, by Thomas de Keyser (Dutch, circa 1596–1667), ND.
(Boy with a Dog), by Paulus Moreelse (Dutch, 1571-1638), 1634.
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quote:Originally posted by the lioness,: Charles II of England as Prince of Wales, by Justus van Egmont (Dutch, 1601–1674), 1630. caption, National Portrait Gallery: This is the earliest known portrait of the future King, painted, according to the inscription in French between the curtains, when he was four months and fifteen days old. At this age he was described by his mother, Henrietta Maria, as 'so fat and so tall that he is taken for a year old'. The painting was probably sent to the prince's godmother and grandmother, Marie de' Medici, Queen Mother of France. The dog, held by the ear, is a toy spaniel, a breed which later came to be associated with Charles as King.
For a regular member of EgyptSearch your assholery knows no bounds. You really expect regular vistors to this forum to believe that the painting above is a genuine portrayal of Charles II. Is this the appearance which led his mother to describe him as below?
Excerpt from King Charles II - Antonia Fraser, where she mention's Charles' complexion, describing as saturnine. Here is a snippet from the book, hopefully not to much to be in violation of copyright etc
quote:First of all he had an abnormal darkness of complexion, a truly saturnine tint. This darkness was the subject of comment from first. His mother wrote jokingly to her sister-in-law that she had give birth to a black baby and to a friend in France that 'he was so dark that she was ashamed of him'. Show would send his portrait 'as soon as he is a littler fairer'. But Charles never did become fairer. Later the sobriquet 'the Black Boy' would be used, still commemorated in English inn signs.
There was definitely a strain of very dark, swarthy Italian blood in the French royal family, inherited through Marie de Medici, which might and did emerge from time to time. Anne of Austria, wife of Henrietta Maria's brother Louis XIII, was said to have given birth to a baby having the 'colour and visage of a blackamor', which died a month after its birth. In 1664 another Queen of France, wife of Charles' first cousin Louis, was supposed to have given birth to a black child. There was even a 'fanatic' fantasy at the time of the Popish Plot in the 1670s, that Charles had been fathered on Henrietta Maria by a 'black Scotsman' - a neat combination of the two prejudices of the tiime, against the Catholics and the Scots. So it became convenient to refer to the then King as that 'black Bastard'.
Of the many grandchildren of Marie de Medici, Charles was the only one to look purely Italian; the rest being in general both frailer and paler. But his appearance was certainly a complete throwback to his Italian ancestors, the Medici Dukes of Tuscany. Directly descended as he was from Lorenzo the Magnificent there is a striking resemblance in their portraits. Bishop Burnet, alluding to Charles' Italianate appearance and intending to make a political point concerning tyranny, comparing the King to a statue of Tiberius. Marvell was presumably describing the same phenomenon when he described Charles as
Of a tall stature and of sable hue Much like the son of Kish, that lofty Jew
How about the other painting entitled Young Moor etc that depicts a white face?
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