Allegory of the Martyrdom of Charles I (oil on canvas)

Charles I (1600-49) King of England; painting from the Square Dining Room at Petworth House; The symbolism of the present picture suggests the dire events that are the outcome of Charles I’s execution. The centre of interest is the picture of the martyrdom of Charles I, with the Banqueting Hall, inaccurately portrayed, in the background. This derives from a representation found in a number of Netherlandish and German propagandistic prints and broadsheets. The executioner, a masked fox, with an axe and iron cooking pot (possibly a reference to Cromwell’s “Ironsides”), is regarding the scene, and beside him sits a slavering hound – Fairfax sometimes appeared in Dutch prints as Cromwell’s hound, “the bloodhound Fairfax”. The books scattered around the animal are the works of Luther, Calvin, Machiavelli, and the Laws of England. The evils unleashed by the Execution fill the remainder of the composition: an Antique warrior drags a mother by her hair, representing the brutality of war; and in the background, London is shown in flames.