In the 1630s Sir Anthony van Dyck executed a series of painted portraits, which were made into engraved prints for his ‘Icones Principium Vivorum’, a work which remained incomplete at his death in 1641, but which was subsequently finished and published in 1645. Johannes Meyssens used it as the basis for his ‘Image de divers hommes’, to which Wenceslaus Hollar contributed a large fraction of the 74 new portraits included in the first edition of 1649. These included a portrait of the young Charles II after van Dyck, who had been appointed court painter by his subject’s father in 1632. With Charles I beheaded in the January of 1649, this print was published with Charles II as king de jure, as shown by the caption declaring him ‘Magna Brittania Fra et Hibernia Rex’. He is shown in three-quarter length wearing a coat, lace collar and sash over his left shoulder. In his left hand he holds his hat and in the right a staff. The Banqueting Hall is visible through the window behind him, seen across St James’ Park.