King Charles Shares Art from His Personal Collection for an Inside Look at Royal Tours

NEED TO KNOW

• On July 9, King Charles and Queen Camilla welcomed artists who have captured their foreign tours in art for a new exhibit at Buckingham Palace

• It came just hours after they hosted the state banquet for President Emmanuel Macron of France at Windsor Castle

• The King, 76, has been inviting artists on tours with him for 40 years

King Charles is going down memory lane.

He and Queen Camilla held a reception on July 9 to celebrate a unique exhibition of some of the monarch’s private art collection that will be displayed at Buckingham Palace this summer.

The London outing came just hours after they had finished hosting the magnificent state banquet at Windsor Castle for President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte.

The 72 artworks in The King’s Tour Artists exhibition are a selection from his own private collection of paintings and sketches, as well as portraits that have captured his tours around the world over the last 40 years.

The works, which even include an image created on an iPad, are the centerpiece of the summer opening of Buckingham Palace. It is open to visitors from July 10 to September 28.

In 1985, Charles started paying for artists to tour with him. In the decades since, 43 artists have been on 70 tours to 95 countries and regions with him.

A committed patron of the arts, the royal has then gone on to acquire at least one piece from each of the artists for his own collection.

On July 9, King Charles, 76, and Queen Camilla, 77, welcomed many of the artists to Buckingham Palace to view the works on display in the Ballroom. They were met at the palace reception on July 9 by Toby Ward, the son of the late John Ward, who had been the first artist chosen by the King. They then went on to view the displays and talk to the other artists among the guests at the palace.

Included among those on show are two portraits of Charles and Camilla from 2007, when they were the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall respectively, by James Hart Dyke, who had joined the couple on a tour of the Gulf States. The portraits have never been on display before.

There is even a watercolor from the King himself, which mirrors one that artist John Ward painted on the Royal Yacht Britannia, on the first tour that Charles took an artist with him.

“His Majesty is a keen watercolor artist and a keen patron of the arts,” curator Kate Heard, Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Royal Collection Trust, said. “It is a celebration of him, working alongside the tour artist.”

The tours range from Argentina to Nepal and Vatican City, and they use a variety of mediums and styles.

“Tour artists are given a very broad brief,” Heard explained during a preview. “They’re not asked to show particular things, there are no requirements. They depict particular events or country or people. They are simply asked to use the tour to inspire them.”

That has led to an “incredibly rich and varied collection. It is really exciting to put them on display,” she added.

From 2005, there is a picture from Luke Allsbrook from North Carolina, who painted a large, detailed Sunlight at Weber Farmhouse, during a visit to California in 2005 (the couple’s first as a married couple). It shows the couple and their entourage walking through the fields.

Also included during the tour are the two portraits painted by Peter Kuhfeld, who has accompanied the King on several tours, to mark the coronation of 2023. They hang in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace.

Fraser Scarfe brings the art up to date, with an image created on an iPad during the tour in March to Italy. The work, Basilica of San Vitale, in Ravenna, uses “new technology as a drawing surface,” Heard says.

“It takes us beautifully full circle,” she adds.

Last year’s summer opening was a record-breaking year, when 605,000 visitors came through the doors of Buckingham Palace.

Tickets are available here.

Read the original article on People