'So wonderful and glorious a collection, that the like will never again be met with . . .'
This acclaimed account of King Charles I's art collection is set against a backdrop of war, revolution and regicide, moving from London to Venice, Mantua, Madrid, Paris and the Low Countries. In it, Jerry Brotton explores the formation and dispersal of the collection, following an unprecedented parliamentary act for 'the sale of the late king's goods'. As a result, Cromwell's republican regime sold off nearly 2,000 paintings, tapestries and statues in an attempt to settle the dead king's debts and raise money for the new Commonwealth's wars.
Brotton vividly recreates the extraordinary circumstances of this sale in which, for the first time, ordinary working people were able to handle and own works by the great masters. He also examines the abiding relationship between art and power, and paints a vibrant and dramatic picture of one of the greatest lost collections in English history.
'A cracking good story . . . that Brotton maintains his authorial grip on both the grand sweep and the elaborate detail while controlling the drive of his multi-layered narrative is a superb achievement' Kate Colquhoun, Daily Telegraph
'Provocative . . . admirably researched and compellingly narrated' Miranda Seymour, Sunday Times
'Fascinating' History Today
'A rip-roaring slice of seventeenth-century England . . . Readable history at its best' Kate Mosse, author of Labyrinth and The Taxidermist's Daughter
'Admirable' The Times