Acquisitions
Featured Acquisitions and Gifts
The Apotheosis of James I and other studies
The Apotheosis of James I
Photo: courtesy National Gallery, London
Sir Peter Paul Rubens’s sketch, The Apotheosis of James I and other studies: sketch for the ceiling of the Banqueting House, Whitehall 1628-30, has been added to the Tate Collection following a campaign to save the work for the nation. The work had been in private hands for two centuries, and despite a valuation of £11.5m, it was offered at a more achievable £6m. The work has now been secured thanks to a concerted appeal launched by Tate in March 2008 with The Art Fund. The major donor was the National Heritage Memorial Fund.
Nevertheless, despite the efforts of many other individuals and organisations, including Tate Trustees and Members, days before the deadline the fund was still substantially short. In an exceptional move NHMF granted a further £221,000 to bring the total raised to £5.7m on the final day. At this point the owners agreed to waive the final £300,000, and the work was secured for permanent public display in London.
This campaign was never simply about ‘saving’ an important work, or filling in a gap in the Tate’s Collection – though Rubens, of course, would be a significant addition to any collection. This unique sketch has an intimate and historic connection with London, and a rare opportunity was presented that could not be ignored, and one that fortunately struck a chord with the many who generously supported the appeal.
Here in Rubens’s detailed sketch is the stuff of real history and state politics. In January 1649 Charles I would undoubtedly have looked up at its final incarnation as he left Whitehall Palace’s Banqueting Hall – to see the huge, richly decorated ceiling, a political allegory of his father, James I being received into heaven, surrounded by the achievements of his reign. The work is a blatant political statement tempered by elaborate religious and mythological reference: the Stuarts were intent on creating a dynasty, greater than the preceding Tudors. This would have been but brief comfort for Charles: he was executed outside the Hall immediately afterwards.
Whitehall Palace was an enormous sprawling complex; the Banqueting Hall the most recent of many sumptuous additions, commissioned by James I and designed by Inigo Jones. The diplomat-artist Sir Peter Paul Rubens had been originally commissioned by James to celebrate the union of England and Scotland. The final work was adapted to Charles’s specifications: the apotheosis of James underlining Charles’s claim to his divine right to rule. The resultant masterpiece covers the ceiling in nine immense panels: the Banqueting Hall still stands today, though the rest of the vast Palace was destroyed by fire in 1698.
Ceiling at the Banqueting House, Whitehall, by Peter Paul Rubens
© Crown copyright: Historic Royal Palaces
Rubens’s initial sketch is, in effect, his scheme for the final work, which he would have used in his detailed discussions with Charles. ‘The Banqueting House ceiling is the most important painting set within an architectural context in England,’ explained the historian David Starkey, who campaigned on its behalf, ‘and this sketch is the key to its composition. The loss of the sketch would be a fundamental betrayal of our national heritage and it is inconceivable that it move from Britain.’
‘This sketch,’ adds Stephen Deuchar, Director of Tate Britain, ‘which represents Rubens’s first visualisation of the project, allows us into the mind’s eye of one of the greatest artists working anywhere at the time and shows the earliest stage of his creative process. There could simply be no better place than Tate Britain to explore its national importance and recognise its truly memorable contribution to British art history. It will take its place in our galleries – a crucial place – as a key work in the rich narrative of British art at Tate Britain.’
Rubens has always been recognised as one of the greatest painters in Western art and his ceiling paintings for the Whitehall comprise the most important artistic commission of the period in Britain. The Banqueting House was constructed between 1619 and 1621. Rubens was in London from 1629–30 acting as a diplomat working for peace between Spain and England. During his time here the commission to paint the ceiling was confirmed. This initial sketch was probably painted in London and shown to King Charles I for approval. The final nine canvases were painted in his Antwerp studio and installed in London around mid-March 1636.
Steve Hare