This is a large oil painting of Pontefract Castle as it was in about 1640.
It shows what a grand site it was, and much larger than the standing remains today might suggest.
There are 10 towers and 3 lines of defensive walls extending down to the Knottingley Road.
The Castle was painted by the Flemish landscape painter Alexander Keirincx.
In 1638 King Charles II arranged for 2 painters, one of them
Keirincx, to come to England the following year. Keirincx had a commission for 10
paintings. By the time of the paintings Charles was based in York preparing to
invade Scotland, because the Scots had refused to
accept his changes to their religious practice.
It seems likely that Charles brought Keirincx to his court
to celebrate the glorious victory he intended to win over the Scots.
Unfortunately for Charles things did not go very well! His underprepared and
ill-trained army only got as far as Berwick, where it was outmatched by a
superior Scottish army and Charles was forced to agree a temporary truce. When Charles
assembled another army at Berwick to try again in 1640 the Scots responded by invading
England, crossing the Tyne, seizing Newcastle and forcing Charles’ English
army to retreat to Durham.
With no victory for Charles to celebrate, Keirincx instead painted 6
of Charles’ great houses or palaces in Scotland, and 4 in Yorkshire, Ripon,
Helmsley and Pontefract Castles, and the city of York.
Click here for a range of activities related to Pontefract Castle to try at home
Click here for more about the history of Pontefract Castle
Click here for visitor and access information for Pontefract Castle
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