Charles X (1757-1836), King of France
Thomas Lawrence, 1825
This 1825 portrait by the British painter Thomas Lawrence shows Charles X just as he had come to the French throne. Charles had spent many years in exile after the Revolution, a period that included time in Britain, and in French politics he led the ultra-royalist faction. After his brother Louis XVIII died in 1824, he was crowned at Reims in 1825 with an elaborate ceremony. The commission came from the British king George IV, Lawrence's main patron, who paid for this picture and another of Charles's son, the Duke of Angoulême. The king appears in military uniform wearing his orders, including the Garter and the Golden Fleece, against a background of the Tuileries Palace. Lawrence was a leading portraitist for European courts, and the work is a good example of the official image of the Bourbon Restoration. Charles was overthrown in the 1830 Revolution, and the painting remains in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle today.
- Painter
- Thomas Lawrence
- Date
- 1825
- Medium
- oil paint, canvas
- Dimensions
- 270 × 180 cm
- Museum
- Royal Collection
- Genre
- portrait
- Depicts
- Charles X of France
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