An Episode in the Happier Days of Charles I is an oil on canvas history painting by the British artist Frederick Goodall, from 1853.Strong p.58
History and description It shows Charles I with his French queen Henrietta Maria and children boating on a summer's day on the River Thames, near Hampton Court Palace. They are seen feeding the swans. An idyllic Romanticised scene, it shows the king and his family before the outbreak of the War of the Three Kingdoms that led to his overthrow and execution and the imprisonment or exile of the others. Goodall based the depictions on busts by Anthony van Dyck at Windsor Castle.Art UK
Portrayals of Charles as a happy family man were popular in the Victorian era,Richards p.331 drawing parallels to the family bond between Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert.Strong p.144
The painting was displayed at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1853 held at the National Gallery, in London, receiving an enthusiastic review from The Art Journal. It belonged to the art collector Thomas Fairbairn.Royal Collections Trust It is now in the possession of the Bury Art Museum
References
Bibliography Richards, Jeffrey. Sir Henry Irving: A Victorian Actor and His World. Bloomsbury Academic, 2007. Strong, Roy. Painting the Past: The Victorian Painter and British History. Pimlico, 2004.