New Exhibition: King’s Private Art Collection of Royal Tours

Royal exhibition to recount 40 years of Charles on tour in 70 artworks.

Forty years ago the then Prince of Wales invited, at his own expense, the artist John Ward to join an official visit to Italy as an official tour artist, with the brief to draw or paint whatever inspired him, reports The Guardian. Since then, 42 artists to have undertaken this role, collectively visiting 95 countries during 69 tours, with their work now going on display at Buckingham Palace.

Credit: Royal Collection Trust

Visitors to the state rooms during the annual summer opening (10 July to 28 September) will have the chance to view a new exhibition, The King’s Tour Artists, featuring pieces selected by the monarch from his collection, many previously unseen in public.

The works on display in the palace ballroom will provide a glimpse of life on a royal tour that differs from the photographic record, reports The Telegraph. They include a painting by Richard Foster that captured the then Prince Charles and Duchess of Cornwall gazing out to sea during a visit to the uninhabited North Seymour Island in the Galápagos Islands in March 2009 - pictured above.

A book, The Art of Royal Travel: Journeys with the King, featuring recollections from the artists and more than 100 illustrations, will be published to accompany the exhibition.

It is edited by the Earl of Rosslyn, Lord Steward and personal secretary to The King and Queen, who said: “By inviting an artist to join a royal tour in 1985, The King started a tradition that has continued unbroken to the current day. Some were at the start of their careers, others more established, but when interviewed for this book all were united in gratitude for the memorable artistic adventure it represented, knowing also that they were working for someone in sympathy with the artistic craft, a patron of the arts and a passionate advocate for cultural life.”