An Epithalamion, or Marriage Song on the Lady Elizabeth and Count Palatine being Married on St Valentine’s Day (John Donne, 1613)

Frederick and Elizabeth, King and Queen of Bohemia Today marks the 404th anniversary of the marriage of Elizabeth Stuart (sister of Charles I) to Frederick, the Elector Palatine. The pair married on 14 February 1613, with lavish simultaneous celebrations in London and Heidelberg. John Donne was commissioned to write a marriage song to celebrate the occasion, so, for all those celebrating Valentine's Day, here it is ...

Henry Stuart, Prince of Wales exhibition @ National Portrait Gallery

The Lost Prince: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart at the National Portrait Gallery.

Charles I was never meant be king. His elder brother Henry was intended to succeed his father as Henry IX, but died tragically at the age of only 18. Henry had been held in great esteem, and hopes were high. He would reassert England as a significant Protestant power in Europe, become a beacon for the arts and, through the unifying force of his personality, avoid any need for an English Civil War. He was destined to be/do lots of things, counter-factual historians suggest, drawing - in part - on the outpouring of literature lamenting his loss.
How much can truly be interpreted about someone when they die so young? I went along to The Lost Prince: The Life and Death of Henry Stuart at the National Portrait Gallery to find out ...

Re-imagining the Hortus Palatinus

The Hortus Palatinus, with Heidelberg Castle in the background, by Jacques Fouquier, c.1614-16

The Hortus Palantinus - the 'Garden of the Palatinate' - was once described as the 'eighth wonder of the word'. Designed by French engineer Salomon de Caus, it was commissioned by Frederick of Bohemia in 1614 as a gift for his new wife, Elizabeth Stuart - sister of Charles I of England - for their new home in Heidelberg.

Yet Germany's 'greatest Renaissance garden' was doomed never to be completed. The Thirty Years War came and wrecked its striking multi-level terraces, the married couple fleeing to the safety of the Hague.

Re-imaging the Hortus is not the forensic exercise it might have been, however, thanks to the survival of De Caus' original plans, indicative paintings and a helpful digital resource ...

Stuart art website

The Five Eldest Children of Charles I, Van Dyck, 1637

Laurence Shafe's art history website features a nice set of early Stuart portraits helpfully themed to aid researchers. The two pages on Van Dyck at the royal court are particularly interesting, showing the development of the painter's work during both periods of his life in England ...

400th anniversary of William Dobson

Detail from Dobson's (middle) self-portrait with Nicholas Lanier and Sir Charles
Cotterell, c.1644-5. 

Further evidence that BBC4 is increasing the quality of depth of its schedule was provided by the recent broadcast of The Lost Genius of British Art: William Dobson. English Civil War historians will be well aware of Dobson's role in cultivating the Cavalier image during his time at the Oxford court, but presenter Waldemar Januszczak goes further, claiming him as English painting's first great genius. The programme celebrates the 400th anniversary of the painter's birth, which is also being marked in a display at the National Portrait Gallery and a new website.

But have all Dobson's works been accounted for? ...