Statue of Charles II, Royal Hospital Chelsea

You are standing in the center of Figure Court, the oldest quadrangle of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. Dominating this space is a seven-foot-six-inch brass statue of King Charles the Second, crafted by the renowned woodcarver Grinling Gibbons. The sculpture presents the monarch not in the dress of his own time, but as a Roman emperor, complete with a baton symbolizing his imperial authority. It was commissioned in sixteen seventy-six by the courtier Tobias Rustat, originally as a gift to the king, before it was moved to its current home following the death of Charles the Second in sixteen eighty-five.