Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a
Brabantian
Brabantian or Brabantish, also Brabantic or Brabantine ( nl, Brabants, Standard Dutch pronunciation: , ), is a dialect group of the Dutch language. It is named after the historical Duchy of Brabant, which corresponded mainly to the Dutch provi ...
Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading
court painter
A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...
in England after success in the
Southern Netherlands
The Southern Netherlands, also called the Catholic Netherlands, were the parts of the Low Countries belonging to the Holy Roman Empire which were at first largely controlled by Habsburg Spain (Spanish Netherlands, 1556–1714) and later by the A ...
and
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
.
The seventh child of Frans van Dyck, a wealthy
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, silk merchant, Anthony painted from an early age. He was successful as an independent painter in his late teens, and became a master in the
Antwerp guild
The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was identi ...
in 1618. By this time he was working in the studio of the leading northern painter of the day,
Peter Paul Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...
, who became a major influence on his work. Van Dyck worked in London for some months in 1621, then returned to Flanders for a brief time, before travelling to Italy, where he stayed until 1627, mostly in Genoa. In the late 1620s he completed his greatly admired ''Iconography'' series of portrait
etching
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...
s, mostly of other artists. He spent five years in Flanders after his return from Italy, and from 1630 was court painter for the archduchess
Isabella
Isabella may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Isabella (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
* Isabella (surname), including a list of people
Places
United States
* Isabella, Alabama, an unincorpora ...
, Habsburg Governor of Flanders. In 1632 he returned to London to be the main court painter, at the request of
Charles I of England
Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of ...
.
With the exception of
Holbein Hans Holbein may refer to:
* Hans Holbein the Elder
Hans Holbein the Elder ( , ; german: Hans Holbein der Ältere; – 1524) was a German painter.
Life
Holbein was born in free imperial city of Augsburg (Germany), and died in Issenheim, Alsa ...
, van Dyck and his contemporary
Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptized June 6, 1599August 6, 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of th ...
were the first painters of pre-eminent talent to work mainly as court portraitists, revolutionising the genre. He is best known for his portraits of the aristocracy, most notably Charles I, and his family and associates. Van Dyck became the dominant influence on
English portrait-painting for the next 150 years. He also painted
mythological
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
and
biblical
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
subjects, including altarpieces, displayed outstanding facility as a draughtsman, and was an important innovator in
watercolour
Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...
and
etching
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...
. His superb brushwork, apparently rather quickly painted, can usually be distinguished from the large areas painted by his many assistants. His portrait style changed considerably between the different countries he worked in, culminating in the relaxed elegance of his last English period. His influence extends into the modern period. The
Van Dyke beard
A Van Dyke (sometimes spelled Vandyke, or Van Dyck) is a style of facial hair named after the 17th-century Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641). The artist's name is today normally spelt as “van Dyck", though there are many variants, ...
is named after him. During his lifetime, Charles I granted him a
knighthood
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
, and he was buried in
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...
, an indication of his standing at the time of his death.
Life and work
Education
Antoon van Dyck (his Flemish name) was born to prosperous parents in Antwerp and was the seventh of 12 children. His father was Frans van Dyck, a silk merchant, and his mother was Maria Cupers, daughter of Dirk Cupers and Catharina Conincx. He was baptised on 23 March 1599 (as Anthonio). His talent was evident very early, and he was studying painting with
Hendrick van Balen
Hendrick van Balen or Hendrick van Balen I (c. 1573–1575 in Antwerp – 17 July 1632 in Antwerp) was a Flemish Baroque painter and stained glass designer. Hendrick van Balen specialised in small cabinet pictures often painted on a copper ...
by 1609, and became an independent painter around 1615, setting up a workshop with his even younger friend
Jan Brueghel the Younger
Jan Brueghel (also Bruegel or Breughel) the Younger (, ; ; 13 September 1601 – 1 September 1678) was a Flemish Baroque painter. He was the son of Jan Brueghel the Elder, and grandson of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, both prominent painters who c ...
. By the age of fifteen he was already a highly accomplished artist, as his ''Self-portrait'', 1613–14, shows. He was admitted to the Antwerp painters'
Guild of Saint Luke
The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was ide ...
as a free master by February 1618. Within a few years he was to be the chief assistant to the dominant master of Antwerp, and the whole of Northern Europe,
Peter Paul Rubens
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...
, who made much use of sub-contracted artists as well as his own large workshop. His influence on the young artist was immense. Rubens referred to the nineteen-year-old van Dyck as "the best of my pupils".
The origins and exact nature of their relationship are unclear. It has been speculated that van Dyck was a pupil of Rubens from about 1613, as even his early work shows little trace of van Balen's style, but there is no clear evidence for this.
[Ellis Waterhouse, ''Painting in Britain, 1530–1790'', 4th Edn, 1978, pp. 70–77, Penguin Books (now Yale History of Art series)] At the same time the dominance of Rubens in the relatively small and declining city of Antwerp probably explains why, despite his periodic returns to the city, van Dyck spent most of his career abroad.
In 1620, in Rubens's contract for the major commission for the ceiling of the
Carolus Borromeuskerk
St. Charles Borromeo Church (Dutch: ''Sint-Carolus Borromeuskerk'') is a church in central Antwerp, located on the Hendrik Conscience square. It was built in 1615-1621 as the Jesuit church of Antwerp, which was closed in 1773. It was rededicated ...
, the
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
church at Antwerp (lost to fire in 1718), van Dyck is specified as one of the "discipelen" who was to execute the paintings to Rubens' designs.
[Martin, op and page cit.] Unlike van Dyck, Rubens worked for most of the courts of Europe, but avoided exclusive attachment to any of them.
Italy
![Van Dyck - Les Echevins de Bruxelles autour de la statue de la Justice, 1634](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Van_Dyck_-_Les_Echevins_de_Bruxelles_autour_de_la_statue_de_la_Justice%2C_1634.jpg)
In 1620, at the instigation of
George Villiers, Marquess of Buckingham, van Dyck went to England for the first time where he worked for King
James I of England
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland as James I from the Union of the Crowns, union of the Scottish and Eng ...
, receiving £100.
It was in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
in the collection of the
Earl of Arundel
Earl of Arundel is a title of nobility in England, and one of the oldest extant in the English peerage. It is currently held by the Duke of Norfolk, and is used (along with the Earl of Surrey) by his heir apparent as a courtesy title. The e ...
that he first saw the work of
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...
, whose use of colour and subtle modeling of form would prove transformational, offering a new stylistic language that would enrich the compositional lessons learned from Rubens.
He returned to Flanders after about four months, and then left in late 1621 for Italy, where he remained for six years. There he studied the Italian masters while starting a successful career as a portraitist. He was already presenting himself as a figure of consequence, annoying the rather bohemian Northern artist's colony in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, says
Giovan Pietro Bellori
Giovanni Pietro Bellori (15 January 1613 – 19 February 1696), also known as Giovan Pietro Bellori or Gian Pietro Bellori, was an Italian painter and antiquarian, but, more famously, a prominent biographer of artists of the 17th century, equiva ...
, by appearing with "the pomp of
Zeuxis
Zeuxis may refer to:
* Zeuxis (general) (), Greek general
* Zeuxis (painter) (), Greek painter
* Zeuxis of Tarentum (), Greek physician
* Zeuxis (wrestler)
Zeuxis (born November 3, 1988) is a Puerto Rican ''luchadora enmascarada'', or masked ...
... his behaviour was that of a nobleman rather than an ordinary person, and he shone in rich garments. Since he was accustomed in the circle of Rubens to noblemen, and being naturally of elevated mind, and anxious to make himself distinguished, he therefore wore—as well as silks—a hat with feathers and brooches, gold chains across his chest, and was accompanied by servants."
![Anthony Van Dyck, by Peter Paul Rubens](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Anthony_Van_Dyck%2C_by_Peter_Paul_Rubens.jpg)
He was mostly based in
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...
, although he also travelled extensively to other cities, and stayed for some time in
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
in
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
, where he was quarantined during the 1624 plague, one of the worst in Sicily's history. There he produced an important series of paintings of the city's plague saint
Saint Rosalia
Rosalia (1130–1166), also called La Santuzza or "''The Little Saint''", and in Sicilian as "Rusulia", is the patron saint of Palermo in Italy, Camargo, Chihuahua, and three towns in Venezuela: El Hatillo, Zuata, and El Playon. She is es ...
. His depictions of a young woman with flowing blonde hair wearing a Franciscan cowl and reaching down toward the city of Palermo in its peril, became the standard iconography of the saint from that time onward and was extremely influential for Italian Baroque painters, from
Luca Giordano
Luca Giordano (18 October 1634 – 3 January 1705) was an Italian late-Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Fluent and decorative, he worked successfully in Naples and Rome, Florence, and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain.
Ear ...
to
Pietro Novelli
Pietro Novelli (March 2, 1603 – August 27, 1647) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Palermo. Also known as ''il Monrealese'' or ''Pietro "Malta" Novelli'' to distinguish him from his father, Pietro Antonio Novelli I ...
. Versions include those in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
,
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
and
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
, as well as
Saint Rosalia Interceding for the City of Palermo in Puerto Rico, and
Coronation of Saint Rosalia
''The Coronation of Saint Rosalia'' or ''Madonna and Child with Saints Rosalia, Peter and Paul'' is an oil on canvas painting made by Anthony van Dyck in 1629.
It and the compositionally similar ''The Vision of the Blessed Hermann Joseph'' (1630C ...
in Vienna. Van Dyck's series of St Rosalia paintings have been studied by
Gauvin Alexander Bailey
Gauvin Alexander Bailey is an American-Canadian author and art historian. He is Professor and Alfred and Isabel Bader Chair in Southern Baroque Art at Queen's University.
Bailey is a correspondent étranger at the Académie des Inscriptions et ...
and
Xavier F. Salomon
Xavier F. Salomon (born 1979) is a British art critic and both Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator at the Frick Collection in New York City, New York. Born in Rome to an English mother and Danish father, he has British citizenship an ...
, both of whom curated or co-curated exhibitions devoted to the theme of Italian art and the plague. In 2020, the ''New York Times'' published an article about the Metropolitan Museum of Art's painting of Saint Rosalia by Van Dyck in the context of the
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
virus.
For the Genoese aristocracy, then in a final flush of prosperity, he developed a full-length portrait style, drawing on
Veronese
Veronese is the Italian word denoting someone or something from Verona, Italy and may refer to:
* Veronese Riddle, a popular riddle in the Middle Ages
* ''Veronese'' (moth), a moth genus in the family Crambidae
* Monte Veronese, an Italian chees ...
and Titian as well as Rubens' style from his own period in Genoa, where extremely tall but graceful figures look down on the viewer with great hauteur. In 1627, he went back to Antwerp where he remained for five years, painting more affable portraits which still made his Flemish patrons look as stylish as possible. A life-size group portrait of twenty-four City Councillors of
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
he painted for the council-chamber was destroyed in 1695. He was evidently very charming to his patrons, and, like Rubens, well able to mix in aristocratic and court circles, which added to his ability to obtain commissions. By 1630, he was described as the court painter of the Habsburg Governor of Flanders, the Archduchess Isabella. In this period he also produced many religious works, including large
altarpiece
An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...
s, and began his printmaking.
London and death
![Sir-Anthony-van-Dyck-Lord-John-Stuart-and-His-Brother-Lord-Bernard-Stuart](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Sir-Anthony-van-Dyck-Lord-John-Stuart-and-His-Brother-Lord-Bernard-Stuart.jpg)
King Charles I was the most passionate collector of art among the
Stuart kings
The House of Stuart, originally spelt Stewart, was a royal house of Scotland, England, Ireland and later Great Britain. The family name comes from the office of High Steward of Scotland, which had been held by the family progenitor Walter fi ...
, and saw painting as a way of promoting his elevated view of the monarchy. In 1628, he bought the fabulous collection that the
Duke of Mantua
During its history as independent entity, Mantua had different rulers who governed on the city and the lands of Mantua from the Middle Ages to the early modern period.
From 970 to 1115, the Counts of Mantua were members of the House of Canoss ...
was forced to sell, and he had been trying since his accession in 1625 to bring leading foreign painters to England. In 1626, he was able to persuade
Orazio Gentileschi
Orazio Lomi Gentileschi (1563–1639) was an Italian painter. Born in Tuscany, he began his career in Rome, painting in a Mannerist style, much of his work consisting of painting the figures within the decorative schemes of other artists. After ...
to settle in England, later to be joined by his daughter
Artemisia
Artemisia may refer to:
People
* Artemisia I of Caria (fl. 480 BC), queen of Halicarnassus under the First Persian Empire, naval commander during the second Persian invasion of Greece
* Artemisia II of Caria (died 350 BC), queen of Caria under th ...
and some of his sons. Rubens was an especial target, who eventually in 1630 came on a diplomatic mission, which included painting, and he later sent Charles more paintings from Antwerp. Rubens was very well-treated during his nine-month visit, during which he was
knighted
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
. Charles's court portraitist,
Daniel Mytens
Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength"), ...
, was a somewhat pedestrian Dutchman. Charles was very short, less than tall, and presented challenges to a portrait artist.
Van Dyck remained in touch with the English court and helped King Charles's agents in their search for pictures. He sent some of his own works, including a self portrait (1623) with
Endymion Porter
Sir Endymion Porter (1587–1649) was an English diplomat and royalist.
Early life
He was descended from Sir William Porter, sergeant-at-arms to Henry VII, and son of Edmund Porter, of Aston-sub-Edge in Gloucestershire, by his cousin Angela, ...
, one of Charles's agents, his ''Rinaldo and
Armida
Armida is the fictional character of a Saracen sorceress, created by the Italian late Renaissance poet Torquato Tasso. Description
In Tasso's epic ''Jerusalem Delivered'' ( it, Gerusalemme liberata, link=no), Rinaldo is a fierce and determ ...
'' (1629), and a religious picture for the Queen. He had also painted Charles's sister,
Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia, at
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
in 1632. In April of that year, van Dyck returned to London and was taken under the wing of the court immediately, being knighted in July and at the same time receiving a pension of £200 a year, in the grant of which he was described as ''
principalle Paynter in ordinary to their majesties''.
He was well paid for his paintings in addition to this, at least in theory, as King Charles did not actually pay over his pension for five years, and reduced the price of many paintings. He was provided with a house on the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
at
Blackfriars Blackfriars, derived from Black Friars, a common name for the Dominican Order of friars, may refer to:
England
* Blackfriars, Bristol, a former priory in Bristol
* Blackfriars, Canterbury, a former monastery in Kent
* Blackfriars, Gloucester, a f ...
, then just outside the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
, thus avoiding the monopoly of the
Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers
The Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers is one of the livery companies of the City of London. An organisation of painters of metals and wood is known to have existed as early as 1283. A similar organisation of stainers, who generally worked o ...
. A suite of rooms in
Eltham Palace
Eltham Palace is a large house at Eltham ( ) in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The house consists of the medieval great hall of a former royal residence, to which an Art Deco extension was added in the 1930s. ...
, no longer used by the royal family, was also put at his disposal as a country retreat. These residences were managed by his partner
Margaret Lemon
Margaret Lemon (born c. 1614) was an English artist's model. She was the most painted female commoner of the seventeenth century, and she was the partner of Anthony van Dyck.
Life
It is known that Lemon was English, but her date of birth can ...
.
His Blackfriars studio was frequently visited by the King and Queen (later a special causeway was built to ease their access), who hardly sat for another painter while van Dyck lived.
![Henrietta Maria and Charles I](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Henrietta_Maria_and_Charles_I.jpg)
He was an immediate success in England, where he painted large numbers of portraits of the King and
Queen Henrietta Maria
Henrietta Maria (french: link=no, Henriette Marie; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland from her marriage to King Charles I on 13 June 1625 until Charles was executed on 30 January 1649. She was ...
, as well as their children. Many portraits were done in several versions, to be sent as diplomatic gifts or given to supporters of the increasingly embattled king. Altogether van Dyck has been estimated to have painted forty portraits of King Charles himself, as well as about thirty of the Queen, nine of the
Earl of Strafford
Earl of Strafford is a title that has been created three times in English and British history.
The first creation was in the Peerage of England in January 1640 for Thomas Wentworth, the close advisor of King Charles I. He had already succe ...
, and multiple ones of other courtiers. He painted many of the court, and also himself and his mistress, Margaret Lemon.
In England he developed a version of his style which combined a relaxed elegance and ease with an understated authority in his subjects which was to dominate English portrait-painting to the end of the 18th century. Many of these portraits have a lush landscape background. His portraits of Charles on horseback updated the grandeur of Titian's Emperor Charles V, but even more effective and original is his portrait of Charles dismounted in the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
: "Charles is given a totally natural look of instinctive sovereignty, in a deliberately informal setting where he strolls so negligently that he seems at first glance nature's gentleman rather than England's King". Although his portraits have created the classic idea of "
Cavalier
The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ). It ...
" style and dress, in fact a majority of his most important patrons in the nobility, such as
Lord Wharton
Baron Wharton is a title in the Peerage of England, originally granted by letters patent to the heirs male of the Thomas Wharton, 1st Baron Wharton, 1st Baron, which was forfeited in 1729 when the last male-line heir was declared an outlaw. The B ...
and the Earls of
Bedford
Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...
,
Northumberland
Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey.
It is bordered by land on ...
and
Pembroke, took the
Parliamentarian side in the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
that broke out soon after his death.
![Portrait of Mary Ruthven - MNK XII-A-482 (384961)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Portrait_of_Mary_Ruthven_-_MNK_XII-A-482_%28384961%29.jpg)
The King
in Council
A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...
by
letters patent
Letters patent ( la, litterae patentes) ( always in the plural) are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch, president or other head of state, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, titl ...
granted van Dyck ''
denizenship'' in 1638, on 27 February 1640 he married Mary Ruthven, with whom he had one daughter. Mary was the daughter of
Patrick Ruthven, who, although the title was forfeited, styled himself
Lord Ruthven. She was a
Lady-in-waiting
A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but of lower rank than the woman to whom sh ...
to the Queen in 1639–40; this may have been instigated by the King in an attempt to keep him in England.
He had spent most of 1634 in Antwerp, returning the following year, and in 1640–41, as the Civil War loomed, spent several months in Flanders and
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. In 1640 he accompanied prince
John Casimir of
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
after he was freed from French imprisonment.
A letter dated 13 August 1641, from
Lady Roxburghe in England to a correspondent in The Hague, reported that van Dyck was recuperating from a long illness.
[Michael Jaffé. "Dyck, Anthony van". ''Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online''. Oxford University Press. Web.] In November, van Dyck's condition worsened, and he returned to England from Paris, where he had gone to paint
Cardinal Richelieu
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...
.
He died in Blackfriars, London on 9 December 1641, the same day as the baptism of his daughter Justiniana. He was buried on 11 December, in the choir of
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...
. His mortal remains and tomb (erected by the king) were destroyed in the
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past the ...
in 1666.
Portraits and other works
![Anthonis van Dyck 013](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Anthonis_van_Dyck_013.jpg)
In the 17th century, demand for portraits was stronger than for other types of work. Van Dyck tried to persuade Charles to commission large-scale series on the history of the
Order of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George C ...
for the
Banqueting House, Whitehall
The Banqueting House, Whitehall, is the grandest and best known survivor of the architectural genre of banqueting houses, constructed for elaborate entertaining. It is the only remaining component of the Palace of Whitehall, the residence of E ...
, for which Rubens had earlier completed the large ceiling paintings (sending them from Antwerp). A sketch for one wall remains, but by 1638 Charles was too short of money to proceed.
This was a problem Velázquez did not have, but equally van Dyck's daily life was not encumbered by trivial court duties as faced by Velázquez. In his visits to Paris in his last years, van Dyck attempted to obtain the commission to paint the Grande Gallerie of the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
without success.
A list of history paintings produced by van Dyck in England survives. It was compiled by van Dyck's biographer Bellori, based on information from
Sir Kenelm Digby
Sir Kenelm Digby (11 July 1603 – 11 June 1665) was an English courtier and diplomat. He was also a highly reputed natural philosopher, astrologer and known as a leading Roman Catholic intellectual and Blackloist. For his versatility, he is d ...
. None of these works appear to remain, except the ''Eros and Psyche'' done for the King (below).
But many other works, rather more religious than mythological, do survive, and though they are very fine, they do not reach the heights of Velázquez's history paintings. Earlier ones remain very much within the style of Rubens, although some of his Sicilian works are individualistic.
Van Dyck's portraits flattered more than Velázquez's. When
Sophia, later Electoress of Hanover, first met Queen Henrietta Maria, in exile in Holland in 1641, she wrote: "Van Dyck's handsome portraits had given me so fine an idea of the beauty of all English ladies, that I was surprised to find that the Queen, who looked so fine in painting, was a small woman raised up on her chair, with long skinny arms and teeth like defence works projecting from her mouth..."
![The Cheeke Sisters by Van Dyck](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/The_Cheeke_Sisters_by_Van_Dyck.jpg)
Some critics have blamed van Dyck for diverting a nascent, tougher English portrait tradition—of painters such as
William Dobson
William Dobson (4 March 1611 (baptised); 28 October 1646 (buried)) was a portraitist and one of the first significant English painters, praised by his contemporary John Aubrey as "''the most excellent painter that England has yet bred''". He ...
,
Robert Walker and
Isaac Fuller
Isaac Fuller (1606(?) – 1672) was an English painter. Trained in France, he worked in Oxford and London. His works included portraits, religious subjects and decorative paintings.
Early life and education
Fuller is often said to have been bor ...
—into what certainly became elegant blandness in the hands of many of van Dyck's successors, like
Lely or
Kneller.
The conventional view has always been more favourable: "When Van Dyck came hither he brought Face-Painting to us; ever since which time ... England has excel'd all the World in that great Branch of the Art" (Jonathan Richardson: ''An Essay on the Theory of Painting'', 1715, 41). Thomas Gainsborough is reported to have said on his deathbed "We are all going to heaven, and Van Dyck is of the Company."
A fairly small number of
landscape
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
pen and wash drawings or
watercolour
Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...
s made in England played an important part in introducing the Flemish watercolour landscape tradition to England. Some are studies, which reappear in the background of paintings, but many are signed and dated and were probably regarded as finished works to be given as presents. Several of the most detailed are of
Rye
Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...
, a port for ships to the Continent, suggesting that van Dyck did them casually whilst waiting for wind or tide to improve.
Printmaking
![Van Dyck Pieter Brueghel the Younger](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4e/Van_Dyck_Pieter_Brueghel_the_Younger.jpg)
Probably during his period in Antwerp after his return from Italy, van Dyck began his ''Iconography'', which became a very large series of
prints
In molecular biology, the PRINTS database is a collection of so-called "fingerprints": it provides both a detailed annotation resource for protein families, and a diagnostic tool for newly determined sequences. A fingerprint is a group of conserve ...
with half-length portraits of eminent contemporaries. He produced drawings, and for eighteen of the portraits he himself
etched the heads and main outlines of the figure, for an
engraver to work up: "Portrait etching had scarcely had an existence before his time, and in his work it suddenly appears at the highest point ever reached in the art".
[Arthur M. Hind, ]
A History of Engraving and Etching
', p. 165, Houghton Mifflin Co. 1923 (in USA), reprinted Dover Publications, 1963
He left most of the
printmaking
Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniq ...
to specialists, who engraved after his drawings. His etched plates appear not to have been published until after his death, and early states are very rare.
[Becker, D. P., in KL Spangeberg (ed), ''Six Centuries of Master Prints'', Cincinnati Art Museum, 1993, no. 72, ] Most of his plates were printed after only his work had been done. Some exist in further
states after engraving had been added, sometimes obscuring his etching. He continued to add to the series until at least his departure for England, and presumably added
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones (; 15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was the first significant architect in England and Wales in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings.
As the most notable archit ...
whilst in London.
The series was a great success, but was his only venture into printmaking; portraiture probably paid better, and he was constantly in demand. At his death there were eighty plates by others, of which fifty-two were of artists, as well as his own eighteen. The plates were bought by a publisher; with the plates reworked periodically as they wore out they continued to be printed for centuries, and the series added to, so that it reached over two hundred portraits by the late 18th century. In 1851, the plates were bought by the ''Calcographie du
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
''.
The ''Iconography'' was highly influential as a commercial model for reproductive printmaking; now forgotten series of portrait prints were enormously popular until the advent of
photography
Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...
: "the importance of this series was enormous, and it provided a repertory of images that were plundered by portrait painters throughout Europe over the next couple of centuries". Van Dyck's brilliant etching style, which depended on open lines and dots, was in marked contrast to that of the other great portraitist in prints of the period,
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...
, and had little influence until the 19th century, when it had a great influence on artists such as
Whistler in the last major phase of portrait etching.
Hyatt Mayor
Alpheus Hyatt Mayor (1901–1980) was an American art historian and curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a leading figure in the study of prints, both old master prints and popular prints.
A. Hyatt Mayor's father was marine biologist Alfred ...
wrote:
Studio
Van Dyck's success led him to maintain a large workshop in London, which became "virtually a production line for portraits". According to a visitor he usually only made a drawing on paper, which was then enlarged onto canvas by an assistant; he then painted the head himself. The costume in which the client wished to be painted was left at the studio and often with the unfinished canvas sent out to artists specialised in rendering such clothing. In his last years these studio collaborations accounted for some decline in the quality of work.
In addition many copies untouched by him, or virtually so, were produced by the workshop, as well as by professional copyists and later painters. The number of paintings ascribed to him had by the 19th century become huge, as with
Rembrandt
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...
,
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...
and others. However, most of his assistants and copyists could not approach the refinement of his manner, so compared to many masters consensus among
art historian
Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...
s on attributions to him is usually relatively easy to reach, and museum labelling is now mostly updated (
country house
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
attributions may be more dubious in some cases).
The relatively few names of his assistants that are known are Dutch or Flemish. He probably preferred to use trained Flemings, as no equivalent English training existed in this period.
Van Dyck's enormous influence on English art does not come from a tradition handed down through his pupils; in fact it is not possible to document a connection to his studio for any English painter of any significance.
Dutchman
Adriaen Hanneman Adriaen is a Dutch form of Adrian. Notable people with the name include:
*Adriaen Banckert (1615–1684), Dutch admiral
*Adriaen Block (1567–1627), Dutch private trader and navigator
*Adriaen Brouwer (1605–1638), Flemish genre painter
*Adriaen ...
(1604–1671) returned to his native
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...
in 1638 to become the leading portraitist there. Flemish painter
Pieter Thijs
Pieter Thijs, Peter Thijs or Pieter Thys (Antwerp, 1624 – Antwerp, 1677) was a Flemish painter of portraits as well as religious and history paintings. He was a very successful artist who worked for the courts in Brussels and The Hague as wel ...
studied in van Dyck's workshop as one of van Dyck's last pupils. He became a very successful portrait and history painter in his native Antwerp.
[Hans Vlieghe, "Thijs, Pieter." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 22 August 2019]
Legacy
Much later, the styles worn by his models provided the names of the
Van Dyke beard
A Van Dyke (sometimes spelled Vandyke, or Van Dyck) is a style of facial hair named after the 17th-century Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641). The artist's name is today normally spelt as “van Dyck", though there are many variants, ...
for the sharply pointed and trimmed goatees popular for men in his day, and the
van Dyke collar, "a wide collar across the shoulders edged copiously with lace".
During the reign of
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
, a generic "Cavalier" fancy-dress costume called a ''Van Dyke'' was popular; Gainsborough's ''
The Blue Boy
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' is wearing such a ''Van Dyke'' outfit. In 1774
Derby porcelain
The production of Derby porcelain dates from the second half of the 18th century, although the authorship and the exact start of the production remains today as a matter of conjecture. The oldest remaining pieces in the late 19th century bore onl ...
advertised a figure, after a portrait by
Johann Zoffany
Johan Joseph Zoffany (born Johannes Josephus Zaufallij; 13 March 1733 – 11 November 1810) was a German neoclassical painter who was active mainly in England, Italy and India. His works appear in many prominent British collections, includin ...
, of "
the King In the British English-speaking world, The King refers to:
* Charles III (born 1948), King of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms since 2022
As a nickname
* Michael Jackson (1958–2009), American singer and pop icon, nicknamed "T ...
in a Vandyck dress".
A confusing number of different pigments used in painting have been called "Vandyke brown" (mostly in English-language sources). Some predate van Dyck, and it is not clear that he used any of them.
Van Dyke brown is an early photographic printing process using the same colour.
When van Dyck was
knighted
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
in 1632, he
anglicized
Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...
his name to Vandyke.
Collections
The British
Royal Collection
The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world.
Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...
, which still contains many of his paintings, has a total of twenty-six paintings. The
National Gallery, London
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...
(fourteen works), The
Museo del Prado (Spain) (twenty-five Works, such as: ''Self-portrait with Endymion Porter'', ''The Metal Serpent'', ''Christ Crowned with Thorns'', ''The taking of Christ'', ''Portrait of Mary Ruthven'', the painter's Wife), The
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
(eighteen works), the
Alte Pinakothek
The Alte Pinakothek (, ''Old Pinakothek'') is an art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses a significant collection of Old Master paintings. The name Alte (Old) Pinak ...
in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
, the
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...
in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...
, and the
Frick Collection
The Frick Collection is an art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection (normally at the Henry Clay Frick House, currently at the 945 Madison Avenue#2021–present: Frick Madison, Frick Madison) features Old Master paintings and Europe ...
have examples of his portrait style.
Wilton House
Wilton House is an English country house at Wilton near Salisbury in Wiltshire, which has been the country seat of the Earls of Pembroke for over 400 years. It was built on the site of the medieval Wilton Abbey. Following the dissolution o ...
still holds the works he did for one of his main patrons, the Earl of Pembroke, including his largest work, a huge family group portrait with ten main figures. Spanish museums own a rich presence of this artist in addition to The Prado's ensemble; The
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (in Spanish, the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (), named after its founder), or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Prado Museum on one of the city's main boulevards. I ...
preserves ''the Portrait of Jacques Le Roy'', property of The Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection but also on display at the Museum there's a ''Crucified Christ'', and The
Bilbao Fine Arts Museum
The Bilbao Fine Arts Museum (Spanish: ''Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao'', Basque: ''Bilboko Arte Ederren Museoa'') is an art museum located in the city of Bilbao, Spain. The building of the museum is located entirely inside the city's Doña Casild ...
houses a great ''Lamentation before the dead Christ''. In 2008,
Patrimonio Nacional of Spain recovered a ''Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian'' and returned it to
The Escorial Monastery, two centuries after its removal and, subsequently, The
Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (RABASF; ), located on the Calle de Alcalá in the heart of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery. A public law corporation, it is integrated together with other Spanish royal acad ...
has revealed as its own a long-stored painting, added to another, ''The Virgin with the Child with the repentant sinners'', in addition the institution has an original sketch. In addition, in December 2017, a ''Virgin with Child'', which is kept in The
Museum Cerralbo
The Cerralbo Museum (Spanish: ''Museo Cerralbo'') is a State-owned museum located in Madrid, Spain. It houses the art and historical object collections of Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa, Marquis of Cerralbo, who died in 1922.
History
Enrique de A ...
and was previously considered the work of
Mateo Cerezo
Mateo Cerezo, sometimes referred to as The Younger (19 April 1637, Burgos – 29 June 1666, Madrid) was a Spanish Baroque painter; known primarily for religious works and still-lifes.
Life and works
His father was the painter, Mateo Cerezo Mu ...
, was revealed as the painter's original after an exhaustive study and restoration project. Finally, The
Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
owns an ''Equestrian Portrait of Don Francisco de Moncada'' (currently undergoing restoration, April 2020).
Tate Britain
Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...
held the exhibition ''Van Dyck & Britain'' in 2009. In 2016 the
Frick Collection
The Frick Collection is an art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection (normally at the Henry Clay Frick House, currently at the 945 Madison Avenue#2021–present: Frick Madison, Frick Madison) features Old Master paintings and Europe ...
in New York had an exhibition "Van Dyck: The Anatomy of Portraiture", the first major survey of the artist's work in the United States in over two decades.
The estate of the
Earl Spencer at
Althorp
Althorp (popularly pronounced ) is a Grade I listed stately home and estate in the civil parish of Althorp, in West Northamptonshire, England of about . By road it is about northwest of the county town of Northampton and about northwest of c ...
houses a small collection of van Dycks including ''War and Peace'' (Portrait of Sir
George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol
George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, (bapt. 5 November 161220 March 1677) was an English politician who as Lord Digby (a courtesy title) sat in the House of Commons from 1640 until 1641, when he was raised to the House of Lords by a writ of acc ...
, English Royalist politician with
William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford
William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford KG PC (August 1616 – 7 September 1700) was an English nobleman and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 until 1641 when he inherited his Peerage as 5th Earl of Bedford and removed to the ...
), which is the most valuable painting in the collection and the favourite of the earl.
Nazi-looted art
In 2017 Van Dyke's ''Portrait of Adriaen Hendriksz Moens,'' a looted artwork acquired by the Nazi
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...
, was restituted to the heirs of
Jacques Goudstikker
Jacques Goudstikker (30 August 1897 – 16 May 1940) was a Jewish Netherlands, Dutch art dealer who fled the Netherlands when it was Battle of the Netherlands, invaded by Nazi Germany during World War II, leaving three furnished properties and an ...
. After WWII the
Monuments Men
A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...
returned the portrait to the Netherlands which was supposed to return it to the surviving Jewish family but which instead sold it to an art dealer in London who sold it to the Nazi food processing millionnaire and former Nazi party member
Rudolf August Oetker
Rudolf August Oetker (20 September 1916 – 16 January 2007) was a German entrepreneur and former member of the National Socialist German Workers' Party, Nazi Party, who became a billionaire running his private food company Oetker-Gruppe, fou ...
. Oekter's heirs restituted the painting to Goudstikkers heirs.
Gallery
File:Anton Van Dyck - Christ carrying the Cross - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Christ carrying the Cross''
File:Anthonis van Dyck 004.jpg, '' Christ Crowned with Thorns'' (c. 1620) in the Prado
The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum
An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own collection. It migh ...
File:Luigia Cattaneo-Gentile mg 0061.jpg, '' Luigia Cattaneo-Gentile'', Genoa, ca. 1622
File:Anthonis van Dyck 016.jpg, ''Elena Grimaldi'', Genoa, 1623
File:Anton van Dyck - Nicolas Lanier - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Nicholas Lanier
Nicholas Lanier, sometimes Laniere (baptised 10 September 1588 – buried 24 February 1666) was an English composer and musician; the first to hold the title of Master of the King's Music from 1625 to 1666, an honour given to musicians of great ...
'', 1628
File:Anton van Dyck - The Vision of the Blessed Hermann Joseph - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Vision of the Blessed Hermann Joseph
''The Vision of the Blessed Hermann Joseph'' or ''The Mystical Engagement of the Blessed Hermann Joseph to the Virgin Mary'' is a 1629-1630 painting by the Flemish Baroque painter Anthony van Dyck.
Background
The painting depicts Hermann Joseph ...
'' c. 1629–30
File:Anthonis van Dyck 048.jpg, ''Rest on the Flight into Egypt
The Rest on the Flight into Egypt is a subject in Christian art showing Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus resting during their flight into Egypt. The Holy Family is normally shown in a landscape.
The subject did not develop until the secon ...
'', ca. 1630, Alte Pinakothek
The Alte Pinakothek (, ''Old Pinakothek'') is an art museum located in the Kunstareal area in Munich, Germany. It is one of the oldest galleries in the world and houses a significant collection of Old Master paintings. The name Alte (Old) Pinak ...
, Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
File:Anthonis van Dyck 021.jpg, ''Marie-Louise de Tassis'', Antwerp, 1630
File:Anthony van Dyck - Charles I (1600-49) with M. de St Antoine - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Charles I with M. de St Antoine
''Charles I with M. de St Antoine'' is an oil painting on canvas by the Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck, depicting Charles I on horseback, accompanied by his riding master, Pierre Antoine Bourdon, Seigneur de St Antoine.
Charles I became King ...
'', 1633
File:Van dyck tomaso 1634 1635.jpg, ''Equestrian Portrait of Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano
''Equestrian Portrait of Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano'' is a 1634 painting by Anthony van Dyck, now in the Galleria Sabauda in Turin. It shows Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano on a prancing horse, as an allegory of his holding the reins ...
'', 1634
File:Anthonis van Dyck 044.jpg, ''Charles I at the Hunt
''Charles I at the Hunt'' – also known under its French title, ''Le Roi à la chasse'' – is an oil-on-canvas portrait of Charles I of England by Anthony van Dyck c. 1635, now in the Louvre Museum, Paris. It depicts Charles in civilian clothing ...
'', c. 1635, Louvre
File:Anthony Van Dyck - Katherine, Countess of Chesterfield, and Lucy, Countess of Huntingdon - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Katherine, Countess of Chesterfield, and Lucy, Countess of Huntingdon'', c. 1636–40, oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the worl ...
File:Anthonis van Dyck - Equestrian Portrait of Charles I - National Gallery, London.jpg, ''Equestrian Portrait of Charles I
The ''Equestrian Portrait of Charles I'' (also known as ''Charles I on Horseback'') is a large oil painting on canvas by Anthony van Dyck, showing Charles I on horseback. Charles I had become King of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1625 on t ...
'', c. 1637–38
File:Anthonis van Dyck 001.jpg, ''Cupid and Psyche
Cupid and Psyche is a story originally from ''Metamorphoses'' (also called ''The Golden Ass''), written in the 2nd century AD by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (or Platonicus). The tale concerns the overcoming of obstacles to the love between Psyc ...
'', 1638
File:Anthony Van Dyck - Portrait of Mary Hill, Lady Killigrew - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Portrait of Mary Hill, Lady Killigrew'', 1638
File:Anthony van Dyck - Princess Mary, Daughter of Charles I - Google Art Project.jpg, ''Princess Mary, Daughter of Charles I'', about 1637, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...
File:Anthony van Dyck - De apostel Mattheus - L'apotre Matthieu - Fonds Generet - Koning Boudewijnstichting - Fondation Roi Baudouin.jpg, The apostle Matthew, Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp
The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (Dutch: ''Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen'', ''KMSKA'') is a museum in Antwerp, Belgium, founded in 1810, that houses a collection of paintings, sculptures and drawings from the fourteenth t ...
File:War and Peace Van Dyck.jpg, Portrait of Sir George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol
George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, (bapt. 5 November 161220 March 1677) was an English politician who as Lord Digby (a courtesy title) sat in the House of Commons from 1640 until 1641, when he was raised to the House of Lords by a writ of acc ...
, English Royalist politician with William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford
William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford KG PC (August 1616 – 7 September 1700) was an English nobleman and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 until 1641 when he inherited his Peerage as 5th Earl of Bedford and removed to the ...
("War and Peace"), 1637, Althorp
Althorp (popularly pronounced ) is a Grade I listed stately home and estate in the civil parish of Althorp, in West Northamptonshire, England of about . By road it is about northwest of the county town of Northampton and about northwest of c ...
File:Anthony van Dyck - Portrait of Jacques Le Roy - WGA07397.jpg, ''Portrait of Jacques Le Roy'', 1631. Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (in Spanish, the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (), named after its founder), or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Prado Museum on one of the city's main boulevards. I ...
, Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
.
File:Anthonis van Dyck 036.jpg, ''Portrait of Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
, daughter of Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
with her husband the Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange (or Princess of Orange if the holder is female) is a title originally associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France and subsequently held by sovereigns in the Netherlands.
The title ...
'', 1641. Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museum Square in the borough of Amsterdam South, close to the Van Gogh Museum, the St ...
, Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
.
File:Full length portrait painting of Gaston of France, Duke of Orléans in 1634 by Anthony van Dyck (Musée Condé).jpg, ''Portrait of Gaston, Duke of Orléans
''Portrait of Gaston, Duke of Orléans'' is an oil on canvas portrait of Gaston, Duke of Orléans by Anthony van Dyck, painted in 1632 or 1634. At the time its subject had fled France and was living in exile in his mother Marie de Medici's court in ...
'', 1632 or 1634. Musée Condé
The Musée Condé – in English, the Condé Museum – is a French museum located inside the Château de Chantilly in Chantilly, Oise, 40 km north of Paris. In 1897, Henri d'Orléans, Duke of Aumale, son of Louis Philippe I, bequeathed the c ...
, Chantilly, France
Chantilly ( , ) is a commune in the Oise department in the Valley of the Nonette in the Hauts-de-France region of Northern France. Surrounded by Chantilly Forest, the town of 10,863 inhabitants (2017) falls within the metropolitan area of Pa ...
.
See also
*
List of paintings by Anthony van Dyck
The following is an incomplete list of works by the Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641).
Portraits (1613–1632)
Between 1613 and 1632, van Dyck travelled all over Europe – from his native Antwerp (where he began working as a painte ...
Notes
References
*Brown, Christopher: ''Van Dyck 1599–1641''. Royal Academy Publications, 1999.
*
*
*
*
External links
The Oliver Millar Archive research papers of
Oliver Millar
Sir Oliver Nicholas Millar (26 April 1923 – 10 May 2007) was a British art historian. He was an expert on 17th-century British painting, and a leading authority on Anthony van Dyck in particular. He served in the Royal Household for 41 year ...
, British art historian and a leading authority on Anthony van Dyck
Van Dyck at the National Gallery of Art*
The National Gallery: Van Dyck, with short biographyThe National Portrait Gallery: Van Dyck*
''Vermeer and The Delft School'' a full text exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which has material on Anthony van Dyck
Jordaens Van Dyck Panel Paintings Project* , a poem by
Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L.
The writings of Landon are transitional between Romanticism and the Victorian Age. Her first major breakthrough ...
(1823).
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyck, Anthony Van
1599 births
1641 deaths
Flemish etchers
Flemish portrait painters
Flemish history painters
Flemish Baroque painters
Knights Bachelor
English portrait painters
Principal Painters in Ordinary
Baroque printmakers
Painters from Antwerp
Artists from Antwerp
Stepney family
Burials at St Paul's Cathedral
Pupils of Peter Paul Rubens
Belgian Roman Catholics
Belgian expatriates in England
17th-century English painters