King Charles’ watercolour paintings to go on display at Sandringham
More than 40 watercolours painted by King Charles III are to be displayed in an exhibition at Sandringham House in Norfolk.
The collection, featuring interpretations of British landscapes and royal residences, will be put on view in the ballroom at the estate.
The exhibition contains a range of scenes painted in the Welsh hills, the highlands of Scotland and at Windsor Castle, Highgrove, Birkhall Castle and the surrounding Norfolk countryside at Sandringham.
His Majesty has previously described how he finds painting so relaxing that it “transports me into another dimension”.
He paints whenever his schedule allows and he usually takes his treasured sailcloth and leather painting bag with him on royal tours in the hope he will have time to do so.
His interest – fostered by his art master at Gordonstoun school, Robert Waddell – grew in the 1970s and 1980s as he was able to meet leading artists.
He discussed watercolour technique with the late Edward Seago and received further tuition from professionals such as Derek Hill, John Ward and Bryan Organ.
An exhibition at Hampton Court Palace in 1998, held to mark the prince’s 50th birthday, displayed 50 of his watercolours, while the National Gallery of Australia’s exhibition in 2018 to celebrate his 70th birthday showed 30 pieces.
Last year, 79 of Charles’s watercolours – the first full exhibition of his work in the medium – were exhibited at the Garrison Chapel in Chelsea, south-west London.
The atmospheric paintings depicted Scottish landscapes such as the Huna Mill in John O’Groats and Glen Callater near Balmoral, as well as outdoor scenes from Provence in the south of France and Tanzania in East Africa, one of his favourite places to paint.
In a display panel, Charles revealed that the hobby “refreshes parts of the soul which other activities can’t reach”, and that he turned to painting after finding little joy in photography.
The King admitted he was “appalled” by the quality of his early sketches.
He added: “I am under no illusion that my sketches represent great art or a burgeoning talent.
“They represent, more than anything else, my particular form of ‘photograph album’ and, as such, mean a great deal to me.”
In October, a print of a watercolour of Balmoral by Charles was bought at auction for more than eight times its estimate.
In what was thought to be the first time a print by a reigning monarch has been sold at auction, a private British collector paid £5,738.
Prints Charles has done in the past have usually fetched between £400 and £600.
The exhibition will run from from April 1 to October 12 at Sandringham House.
