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Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian 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 ...
. 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 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 tradit ...
, 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 etchings, 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, 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 his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of Scotland, but after ...
. With the exception of Holbein, van Dyck and his contemporary Diego Velázquez 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 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 ...
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 ...
and etching. 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 ...
, and he was buried in
St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, 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 ...
, 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 by 1609, and became an independent painter around 1615, setting up a workshop with his even younger friend Jan Brueghel the Younger. 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 iden ...
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 tradit ...
, 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 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

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 Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...
, receiving £100. It was in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
in the collection of the Earl of Arundel that he first saw the work of Titian, 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, by appearing with "the pomp of Zeuxis ... 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." He was mostly based in
Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...
, 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 of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its ...
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. 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 to Pietro Novelli. 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 ...
,
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...
, New York and
Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its ...
, as well as Saint Rosalia Interceding for the City of Palermo in Puerto Rico, and Coronation of Saint Rosalia in Vienna. Van Dyck's series of St Rosalia paintings have been studied by Gauvin Alexander Bailey and Xavier F. Salomon, 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 identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...
virus. For the Genoese aristocracy, then in a final flush of prosperity, he developed a full-length portrait style, drawing on Veronese 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 altarpieces, and began his printmaking.


London and death

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 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 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. Charles's court portraitist, Daniel Mytens, 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'' (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 o ...
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, 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 f ...
, 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 ...
. A suite of rooms in Eltham Palace, 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. 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. 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 wa ...
, 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, 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 ...
: "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 – ). ...
" style and dress, in fact a majority of his most important patrons in the nobility, such as Lord Wharton 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 t ...
,
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 ...
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 r ...
that broke out soon after his death. 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 nati ...
by letters patent 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 populou ...
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. 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 Anglicanism, 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 ...
. His mortal remains and tomb (erected by the king) were destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.


Portraits and other works

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 Georg ...
for the Banqueting House, Whitehall, 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 ...
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. 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..." Some critics have blamed van Dyck for diverting a nascent, tougher English portrait tradition—of painters such as William Dobson, 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 Kneller is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Andreas Kneller (1649–1724), German composer * Arthur Kneller (1894–1969), English cricketer * Clive Kneller, actor in '' Enlightenment'' *Sir Godfrey Kneller (1646–1723), Germa ...
. 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 ...
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, a port for ships to the Continent, suggesting that van Dyck did them casually whilst waiting for wind or tide to improve.


Printmaking

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 conserved ...
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 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 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 ...
''. 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 emplo ...
: "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, 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 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, Titian 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 historians 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 peop ...
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 (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 o ...
in 1638 to become the leading portraitist there. Flemish painter Pieter Thijs 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 ...
'' 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, of " the King 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 in 1632, he anglicized his name to Vandyke.


Collections

The British Royal Collection, which still contains many of his paintings, has a total of twenty-six paintings. The National Gallery, London (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 ...
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. Si ...
(eighteen works), the Alte Pinakothek in
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...
, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Frick Collection have examples of his portrait style. Wilton House 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 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 language, 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 ci ...
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 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 and was previously considered the work of Mateo Cerezo, was revealed as the painter's original after an exhaustive study and restoration project. Finally, The Museum of Fine Arts of Valencia owns an ''Equestrian Portrait of Don Francisco de Moncada'' (currently undergoing restoration, April 2020). Tate Britain held the exhibition ''Van Dyck & Britain'' in 2009. In 2016 the Frick Collection 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 houses a small collection of van Dycks including ''War and Peace'' (Portrait of Sir George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, 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 th ...
), 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, was restituted to the heirs of
Jacques Goudstikker Jacques Goudstikker (30 August 1897 – 16 May 1940) was a Jewish Dutch art dealer who fled the Netherlands when it was invaded by Nazi Germany during World War II, leaving three furnished properties and an extensive and significant art collecti ...
. After WWII the Monuments Men 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. 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 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'' c. 1629–30 File:Anthonis van Dyck 048.jpg, '' Rest on the Flight into Egypt'', ca. 1630, Alte Pinakothek,
Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...
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'', 1633 File:Van dyck tomaso 1634 1635.jpg, '' Equestrian Portrait of Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano'', 1634 File:Anthonis van Dyck 044.jpg, '' Charles I at the Hunt'', 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 File:Anthonis van Dyck - Equestrian Portrait of Charles I - National Gallery, London.jpg, '' Equestrian Portrait of Charles I'', c. 1637–38 File:Anthonis van Dyck 001.jpg, '' Cupid and Psyche'', 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 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 File:War and Peace Van Dyck.jpg, Portrait of Sir George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, 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 th ...
("War and Peace"), 1637, Althorp File:Anthony van Dyck - Portrait of Jacques Le Roy - WGA07397.jpg, ''Portrait of Jacques Le Roy'', 1631. Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum,
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, 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 titl ...
'', 1641. Rijksmuseum,
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
. 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'', 1632 or 1634. Musée Condé,
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 Pari ...
.


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, 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 biography

The 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 (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