Banqueting House, Whitehall Banqueting House, Whitehall The Banqueting House, Whitehall, is the grandest and best known survivor of the architectural genre of banqueting house and the only remaining component of the Palace of Whitehall. The building is important in the history of English architecture as the first structure to be completed in the neo-classical style, which was to transform English architecture. Begun in 1619 and designed by Inigo Jones in a style influenced by Andrea Palladio, the Banqueting House was completed in 1622 at a cost of £15,618, 27 years before King Charles I of England was beheaded on a scaffold in front
Bust of King Charles I (Bernini) Bust of King Charles I (Bernini) The Bust of Charles I was a sculptural bust produced by the Italian artist Gianlorenzo Bernini which according to one historian, "set the visual conventions for centuries … [establishing itself as] the official portrait of secular absolutism.". The sculpture was of the then king Charles I of England, who had commissioned the work himself, writing to Bernini that the artist's name was "exalted above those of all men of talent who have exercised your profession.". Bernini did not travel to London to undertake the work; rather he made use of a painted triple portrait