This painting is an anecdotal or 'semi-historical' history painting: it does not show an important historical event, but it does show recognisable historical figures. The artist spent some weeks in 1852 making studies from the portraits of Charles I and his wife and children by van Dyck at Windsor Castle to ensure that this is so. The picture shows the royal family enjoying a river trip near Hampton Court during the early years of the reign of Charles I, before his conflict with parliament became acute. The King stands and the Queen sits with her four children on either side of her. Not even the severest critics of the King denied that he was an exemplary husband and father and that his family life was beyond reproach. The first version of this composition was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1853, when it received an enthusiastic review in the 'Art Journal', who wrote of the picture: 'the King regarding with evident pleasure the amusement which the children derive from feeding a pair of swans with pieces of cake…This is a combination of surpassing power and sweetness, in colour, delicacy of skin texture, and expression.