The Second Privy Lodging Room

The Second Privy Lodging Room contains 19 paintings, mostly attributed to Titian or Giulio Romano.

It is dominated by two large canvases, Titian's Pardo Venus (now considered to be Jupiter and Antiope), given to Charles I when Prince of Wales in 1623 by Philip IV of Spain, and Giulio's Birth of Christ which came out of Mantua in c.1627–8.

The room appears to be hung according to the theme of birth, incorporating both secular and sacred scenes. The paintings' subject matter spans one pre-birth scene (Jupiter and Antiope shows Jupiter in the guise of a satyr preparing to pounce on the sleeping Antiope), three births or nativities and two holy families. Though we have no knowledge of the exact location of the room's fireplace, it seems fitting that Giulio's painting from Mantua of a Sacrifice to Jupiter representing a burnt offering should hang above the fireplace.