Politics, Transgression, and Representation at the Court of Charles II

The return of Charles II to the English throne after eleven years of Interregnum heralded the beginning of a new era in which the court was characterized by the licentious behavior of the new king. Edited by the authors of the critically acclaimedPainted Ladies: Women at the Court of Charles II(2002), this book brings together ten distinguished scholars of history, literature, music, theatre, and art to explore the political and cultural implications of the court's transgressive new character. With particular reference to the perception and representation of women, it offers a varied examination of topics including popular prints and broadsheets; court masque; poetry and painted portraits; and the operation of women in the political sphere.

Catharine MacLeod is Seventeenth-Century Curator at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Julia Marciari Alexander is Associate Director for Exhibitions and Publications at the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven.