Painted Ladies: Women at the Court of Charles II 25 JANUARY — 17 MARCH, 2002 The court of Charles II (1660-1685) was characterized by splendor, excess, exuberance, and glamour. From royal brides and daughters to mistresses and actresses, the women of the Restoration court in England were alternately praised for their beauty and despised for the power and influence they wielded in the political arena. For the first time in twenty years, Painted Ladies: Portraits of Women at the Court of Charles II, 1660�, brought together an exhibition of more than 100 of the most beautiful and intriguing portraits from the reign of this remarkable king. The exhibition was co-organized by the Yale Center for British Art and the National Portrait Gallery, London. Ranging from spectacular full-length oils to intimate jewel-like miniatures, Painted Ladies includd many portraits from private collections--most of which had never been seen before in America. Among the lenders were the Royal Collection and the Earl Spencer whose ancestor, Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, assembled one of the finest collections of seventeenth-century portraiture in the world at his stately home, Althorp.