The Three Eldest Children of King Charles I
Jacob Christoff Le Blon (1667 - 1741)
Category
Art / Prints
Date
1721 - 1722
Materials
Three-colour varnished mezzotint with engraving and hand-colouring laid to canvas
Measurements
743 x 1061 mm
Order this imageCollection
Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk
NT 1210294
Summary
Three-colour varnished mezzotint with engraving and hand-colouring laid to canvas, The Three Eldest Children of King Charles I, by Jacob Christoff Le Blon (1667 - 1741) after Sir Anthony van Dyck (Antwerp 1599 - London 1641), 1721-22. From left to right: Charles, Prince of Wales, later King Charles Il; James, Duke of York later King James II holding his brother's hand; Princess Mary Henrietta, Princess Royal, later Princess of Orange (1631–1660). After the original portrait by van Dyck in the Royal Collection (RCIN 404403). Frame catalogued separately as NT 1211857. This impression was previously thought to be an oil painting on paper until technical examination in 2023 revealed it to be a colour mezzotint. Other impressions are at the Ashmolean Museum (Sutherland Collection, Large Album I, WA.Suth.L.I.136); the British Museum (1885,0509.1899) and Dresden, Kupferstich-Kabinett (A85260). Three fragments of another impression at the British Museum (1841,0612.45 - 47).
Full description
While in London, Le Blon, who was also a painter, published his manual 'Coloritto - or the Harmony of Colouring in Painting, Reduced to a Mechanical Process' (1725). The text focusses on the mechanics of reproducing human skin, probably of strongest interest to him and why he was drawn to copying figurative works by artists such as Titian, Rubens and van Dyck. Le Blon's three-colour process required separate copperplates inked with blue, yellow and red pigments bound in walnut or poppy oil. Each plate would be positioned exactly over the other - with the blue plate printed first, followed by yellow and then red, on white paper. Printing could be done wet-on-wet, or the sheets left to dry for some weeks before printing the next colour. Le Blon's revolutionary method lives on today as the foundation of our CMYK colour system, which prints images in overlapping layers of cyan, magenta and yellow, with a key in black. To make a mezzotint appear like an oil painting Le Blon mounted and flattened it onto canvas so that the texture of the fabric was visible. It was then varnished and stretched on a strainer. Varnishing mezzotints was not uncommon as it protected the paper and stiffened it for framing. The original varnish on Oxburgh's impression was replaced in the 19th century. In 1719, a year after he arrived in London, Le Blon was granted a royal privilege by George I and worked tirelessly to acquire patrons and sponsors. The king commissioned an entire room of the artist's work and allowed him access to Kensington Palace to copy the paintings there, including van Dyck's The Three Eldest Children of Charles I. By 1721 Le Blon had established a London workshop known as the 'Picture Office' producing colour prints, of which The Three Eldest Children was the largest size. It was offered in his 1721 'Prospectus' catalogue as no.21, alongside 26 items with prices ranging from one to fifteen shillings. Thanks to Le Blon's invention, for the first time colour prints after celebrated paintings could be purchased at a moderate price. Le Blon intended his colour mezzotints to be framed, as if they were oil paintings. Oxburgh's impression has been treated in historic inventories as a framed painting. Exactly when and how it came to Oxburgh - and whether it was known to be a mezzotint - is not known. It first appears in an undated 19th century inventory (Bedingfeld Collection, Oxburgh Hall, as no. 97, 'Charles I children'), but was most likely acquired by Sir Henry Arundell-Bedingfeld (1689-1760), 3rd Baronet, or possibly by his son Richard Bedingfeld (1726-95), 4th Baronet. The family was Catholic and royalist, and there is some evidence to suggest that the 3rd Baronet was a Jacobite (supporters of the descendants of the Stuart King James II, who is depicted in The Three Eldest Children). When the Oxburgh mezzotint underwent conservation treatment in 2023-4 (studio of Nicholas Burnett, Museum Conservation Services), technical analysis showed that the blue ink used was indigo and the red was red lake (carmine). Prussian blue was also found. The textile backing is likely to be the original backing used by the Picture Office. Text adapted from Jane Eade, 'A Mezzotint by Jacob Christoff Le Blon (1667-1741) at Oxburgh Hall', Print Quarterly, XLII, 2025, 2, pp. 143-53.
Provenance
Probably acquired by Sir Henry Arundell-Bedingfeld (1689-1760), 3rd Baronet, or possibly by his son Richard Bedingfeld (1726-95), 4th Baronet; first listed in an untitled and undated 19th century inventory (Bedingfeld Collection, Oxburgh Hall, as no. 97, 'Charles I children'); listed as 'Charles I children' in the 'Catalogue of Pictures' compiled by Henry Bedingfeld, 8th Baronet, 1913; presented to the National Trust by Sybil Lyne-Stephens, Lady Paston Bedingfeld.
Marks and inscriptions
Bottom left: 97
Makers and roles
Jacob Christoff Le Blon (1667 - 1741), printmaker after Sir Anthony Van Dyck (Antwerp 1599 - London 1641), artist
References
Jane Eade, 'A Mezzotint by Jacob Christoff Le Blon (1667-1741) at Oxburgh Hall', Print Quarterly, XLII, 2025, 2, pp. 143-53 Stijnman 2020: Ad Stijnman, Jacob Christoff Le Blon and Trichromatic Printing, in New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts 1450-1700, Part II, edited by Simon Turner, Ouderkerk aan den Ijssel and Amsterdam, 2020