"Over a period of only two decades in the first half of the seventeenth century, King Charles I assembled one of the most spectacular art collections ever seen. Over 2,000 paintings and sculptures by such artists as Titian, Mantegna, Holbein, Dèurer, Rubens and Van Dyck filled London's royal palaces and became the envy of the most magnficient courts of Europe. Charles I was executed on 30 January 1649, and over the following years his collection was scattered. This book reassembles his exceptional collection, and explores how and why he became the pre-eminent art collector of his age." --Provided by the publisher.