Once layers of old varnish and overpainting were removed over a period of two months by art conservator Simon Rollo Gillespie, the portrait was revealed to be the original work by Rubens himself. [1] [3] Ben van Beneden, the director of Antwerp's Rubenshuis, confirmed the authenticity of the attribution. [1] The vices’ dominance does not last long, as Athena re-appears ‘shewing her shield’ and the vices ‘perish’ into ‘stone/And that be seen awhile, and then be none!’. Having successfully defeated the vices by turning them into stone, Athena calls forth Astraea and the Golden Age; ‘descend, you long, long wish’d and wanted pair… So shake all clouds off with your golden hair’. George Villiers was among the troupe of noble masquers who represented the Golden Age. Pallas Athena ‘throws a lightening from her shield…to which let all that doubtful darkness yield’ while Villiers, as the Golden Age, replied ‘And Love…Joys…All, all increase’. This dialogue was followed by ‘the first dance’. The dance celebrated the goddess of justice’s nourishment of James’ realm and dynasty. Villiers, dancing in front of the assembled courtiers, acted as the elegant personification of James’ reign recovered to justice and glory. In 2017, the oil painting was examined by art historian Bendor Grosvenor at Pollok House, the former ancestral home of the Stirling-Maxwell family at Pollok Country Park in Glasgow, Scotland. [1] Prior to this examination, the portrait was thought to be a mere copy of a Rubens painting that had been lost. [2] Wiseman, Andreas (13 January 2023). "Nicholas Galitzine Joins Julianne Moore In Sky & AMC Series 'Mary & George' About Royal Court Intrigue In King James I's England; Filming Underway". Deadline . Retrieved 27 March 2023.

Robinson, Nicholas K. (1996). Edmund Burke, a life in caricature. Yale University Press. p.31. ISBN 0300068018. In 1624, he was then sent to France to request the hand of Princess Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV, on behalf of Charles.McDonald said Glasgow was proud of its extensive art collection and it had been a joy to work with the TV programme. a b Waters, Robert Edmond Chester (1878). Genealogical memoirs of the extinct family of Chester of Chicheley. Vol.2. pp.717–718. James found Villiers extremely attractive and was considered to be "beautiful as a hunting leopard". (6) Bishop Godfrey Goodman commented that Villiers was "the handsomest-bodied man in all of England; his limbs so well compacted, and his conversation so pleasing, and of so sweet a disposition." (7) The Duke had a lifelong interest in science, acquired during the civil war, while he was exiled in France. There, he carried out a variety of laboratory experiments assisted by Prince Charles (the future Charles II). [19] He was especially interested in alchemy, and hoped to find a method of producing the philosopher's stone [20] [21] This obsession with alchemy continued throughout his lifetime so that his frequent absences from court, mistakenly attributed to visits to a lover were, very often, periods when the Duke was engrossed in his experiments. [22] William Villiers, 2nd Viscount Grandison († 1643), married Mary Bayning, daughter and heiress of Paul Bayning, 1st Viscount Bayning.

Views of historians, up to the late twentieth century, were biased by prevailing negative social attitudes towards same-sex relationships. [1] Many historians did not discuss, or discuss only obliquely, the clear fact that James' choice of favourites was rooted, at least in part, in same-sex attraction: for example, the 1885-1900 Dictionary of National Biography refers only (in the context of Carr) to "James's partiality to worthless Scotsmen, if only they were sprightly and active" and to his "inordinate fondness" for Villiers. [5] To answer the question of why his love life mattered so much is simple on the face of it: these lovers were men. As historian Lady Antonia Fraser has noted, ‘the degree of their intimacy is less important than its political consequences’[i], because these men rose into positions of unequalled power. For modern historians, the emphasis should not be on their gender, but rather a discussion of their competency and the danger that they posed to the Kingdoms of Scotland and England. the handsomest-bodied in England; his limbs so well compacted and his conversation so pleasing and of so sweet a disposition.’Rubens, a pioneer of the Flemish Baroque tradition, is considered one of the most influential painters in history and his work is worth millions. Bentham, Jeremy; Crompton, Louis (1978). "Offences Against One's Self". Journal of Homosexuality. 3 (4): 389–405, continued in v.4:1(1978). doi: 10.1300/J082v03n04_07. PMID 353189. Elizabeth Villiers († 1654), daughter of Sir George Villiers († 1606), married John Boteler, 1st Baron Boteler of Brantfield. A range of techniques were used in the process including dendrochronology – examining the tree rings of wood to date it – which showed that the panel on which the portrait was painted was likely to have been created in the early 1620s. It was also found to have been prepared in the manner used in Rubens’s studio. In the 2003 British television mini-series Charles II: The Power and The Passion, Villiers is portrayed by the British actor Rupert Graves.

a b Bergeron, David Moore (1999). King James and Letters of Homoerotic Desire. University of Iowa Press. ISBN 978-0-87745-669-8. Under James I, he used his influence to enrich his relatives tremendously and improve their social positions.

Framed & unframed prints

Henry Benjamin Wheatley, Peter Cunningham, London Past and Present: Its History, Associations, and Traditions, Cambridge University 2011, p. 539