A watercolour view of the interior of the Queen's Guard Chamber, Windsor Castle, prepared for one of the plates in William Henry Pyne's History of the Royal Residences (1816-1819). Engraved by Sutherland, the print was published on 1 February 1817. Showing the Queen's Guard Chamber before significant alterations made by Jeffry Wyatville in the late 1820s, it depicts the original ceiling which was executed by Antonio Verrio and represented Catherine of Braganza as Britannia receiving offerings from the four continents.

The entry in John Evelyn's diary for 3 September 1685 records his great pleasure at a visit to St George's Hall, Windsor Castle. It had been completed only the previous year. This, and the adjoining space, the King's Chapel, were designed to be the most impressive and important spaces in the new State Apartments recast by Hugh May. From 1675 to 1684, Verrio painted 12 rooms and three staircases in the King's State Apartment, and six rooms and the Great Stairs in the Queen's State Apartment. The iconographic programme, common to decorative shemes commissioned for most continental European baroque palaces, uncompromisingly celebrated the quasi-divine status of the prince or monarch. At Windsor, Verrio went further and placed Charles II himself as the great saviour.

Also visible hanging on the left wall is Dahl's equestrian portrait of Prince George of Denmark (RCIN 405895).

Text adapted from Charles II: Art & Power, London, 2017