Chequers Artworks to Go on View in Rare Public Exhibition

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, England—For the first time, a group of paintings from the prime ministerial retreat Chequers is to go on public view, reports the Guardian.

The exhibition of 10 works, held at another country mansion, Compton Verney in Warwickshire, will include portraits by Van Dyck of Charles I and his wife Henrietta Maria, a locket ring owned by Elizabeth I containing tiny portraits of herself and Anne Boleyn, and likenesses of Mary I, James I, and Lady Mary Grey, a younger sister of Lady Jane Grey, who Elizabeth I confined to Chequers.

The country estate was set up 80 years ago in Buckinghamshire and houses a collection of 186 paintings. The loan was able to be arranged, reports the Art Newspaper, because Compton Verney was able to lend works to fill in the gaps. Individual works from Chequers had been loaned previously, but never such a large group.

"Portaits from Chequers: Kings, Queens and Revolutionaries" will run from June 21 to September 7.