Charles I

About this work

This is a black-and-white portrait of a man with a serious face. He’s wearing a fancy, ruffled collar and holding a piece of paper or scroll in his left hand. The background is plain, but the edges of the image have Latin words wrapped around it like a border. The Latin text around the portrait calls him "King Charles" and mentions England, Scotland, and Ireland. This looks like an old-fashioned way of making portraits—detailed but only in shades of gray. Want to know more? Look up engraving to see how artists like this made prints.