Imagining the Death of the King: Milton, Charles I, and Anamorphic Art

Abstract

A little-known painting of King Charles I, now at Castle Gripsholm near Stockholm, presents an example of anamorphic art popular in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe (Figure 9.1).¹ The observer first puzzles over a distorted and unsettling image, in which only a death’s head on a circle is in focus. The solution is a cylindrical mirror, which, when placed over the death’s head, reflects the corrected head-and-shoulders image of Charles with enhanced depth. As in earlier portraits by Sir Anthony Van Dyck, Charles is here shown with his characteristic left love-lock, wearing the ‘George’ medal, symbol of the Knights of the Garter, and dressed in sombre black, except for a white falling collar with laced edges.² The painting guides the viewer to look at Charles in and through death. Only from the perspective of death does the king’s image gain coherence and meaning.