Portrait of King Charles II of England

Charles II, exiled in Paris, stands in black against a plain ground, his long dark hair framing a cool, watchful face. Philippe de Champaigne — the Flemish-born painter who became the leading portraitist of the French court and the Jansenist movement — records the future king with an honesty that avoids flattery, the young man’s calculating gaze hinting at the political survival that would restore him to the throne fifteen years later.