Unusual finds on one of Van Dyck's largest oil sketches

In July we had the opportunity to examine Van Dyck’s glorious Charles I and the Knights of the Garter in Procession at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. As the late Sir Oliver Millar wrote in the 2004 Van Dyck. A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, ‘There is no finer, or larger, example of Van Dyck’s ability as a painter of oil sketches.’ The sketch was made as a model for a projected but never executed series of tapestries to decorate the Banqueting House in Whitehall. Van Dyck included this oil sketch is his autumn 1638 ‘Memoire pour Sa Majestie’ which original can be found on our website. The panel is constructed from four separate planks, not two as recorded in the Van Dyck literature. It’s overall size is 29.4 cm x 131.9 cm. There are two brand marks of the collection of Charles I on the reverse of the panel, the first we have encountered. There