Art, Passion & Power: The Story of the Royal Collection
BBC FOUR, 9.00PM
In Andrew Grahamdixon’s ambitious new four-part series, he casts his eye over the treasures in the “unparalleled” assemblage of more than one million artworks and artefacts collected by British royals down the centuries. He begins by weighing up the beauty of the Crown Jewels, but it’s not long before he’s on more traditional “art” turf, tracking the collection back to its founder, Henry VIII.
Beginning with a delightful terracotta bust of the king by the 16thcentury sculptor Guido Mazzoni, Graham-dixon takes us through the acquisitions made by a monarch obsessed with projecting his own power. Many were portraits by Hans Holbein the Younger, including some stunning drawings of courtiers kept by the king in his private rooms. From there it’s on to Elizabeth I, Edward VI and Prince Henry, the son of James I, who died of typhoid fever when he was just 18, before we get to the most interesting section: Charles I. Here Grahamdixon explores Charles I’s passion for, and importation of, the works of such Renaissance greats as Titian, Raphael and Mantegna, as well as his collaborations with the great Anthony van Dyck. Gerard O’donovan