Enchanting the eye: Dutch painting of the Golden Age

摘要

Early models of kingship held that the country of which a man was sovereign was his personal property, and that any power or property held by anyone else was solely at his pleasure. While subsequent kings have allowed their untrammelled rights to property paid for by the people's contributions to the Treasury to be reduced, there is one area in which they have not — their art collections; their curator is still called, rather grandly, Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures. A fig leaf has been developed, however, so that when the Queen declares how rich she is, the value of the Royal Collections is not included, because these works are held in trust for the nation. If that is so, on what grounds does she charge £7.50 for citizens of that nation to see these pictures, while the Prince of Wales can see them for free whenever he wants?