Anthony van Dyck

Background

Antoon van Dyck (later Anglicized as Anthony Van Dyck) was born in Antwerp in 1599, the seventh child of a prosperous merchant.

Education

In 1609 Anthony was registered as a pupil of the minor painter Hendrik van Balen.

Career

In 1618, not yet 19 years of age, he was accepted as a master in the Guild of St. Luke. He entered Rubens's studio as an assistant about 1617 or 1618 and remained there until late 1620.

Van Dyck was astonishingly precocious: the appealing self-portrait in Vienna was made when he was 14 or 15. Rubens was quick to make use of this extraordinary ability. As senior assistant in his studio, the young Van Dyck collaborated in the execution of many of Rubens's larger commissions during this period. Among the works in which his hand may be observed is Rubens's great Coup de lance.

In his independent paintings at this time we see the young Van Dyck striving to become another Rubens. This is particularly true of the early religious subjects, such as St. Martin Dividing His Cloak, which are strikingly Rubens-like in color and composition. A hint of the artist's future development may be discovered in the Betrayal of Christ, which has a quality of nervous excitement that is more indicative of Van Dyck's own temperament. But it is the early portraits that reveal most clearly the poetic sensitivity that was to make Van Dyck the unrivaled interpreter of the aristocracy. Graceful, elegant, and more than a little neurotic, the self-portraits are marked by an intimacy that owes little to Rubens. Among the master-pieces of this period are the portraits of the painter Frans Snyders and his wife.

By November 1620, having entered the service of King James I, Van Dyck was in England. But he soon gave up his duties as court artist and returned to Antwerp in the spring of 1621. In October he set out for Italy, where he was to stay for 6 years.

Van Dyck visited Genoa, Rome, Venice, and Sicily. Artistically speaking, the most important experience was his discovery of Titian, whose influence remained with Van Dyck for the rest of his life. Although he painted some notable altarpieces, of which the Madonna of the Rosary is the most imposing, the finest works of the Italian sojourn are surely his portraits of members of the nobility; his painting of Cardinal Bentivoglio is the very model of a prince of the church, and the Marchesa Elena Grimaldi, one of a series of portraits of Genoese aristocrats, is an elegant variation on a theme by Rubens.

The years 1628-1632, which found Van Dyck settled once more in Antwerp, may be regarded as a kind of bourgeois interlude. Here he produced some of his most lyrical and deeply felt devotional pictures, among them the ecstatic Vision of the Blessed Herman Joseph (1630). Commissions for princely portraits were numerous: Van Dyck's sitters at this time included Marie de Médicis, Prince Frederick Henry of Orange, and the young Prince Rupert. Yet these impressive court pictures are surpassed in sympathetic understanding by his portraits of Antwerp citizens and fellow artists, such as the sculptor Colyns de Nole and his wife and daughter and the painter Martin Rijckaert. These works show with what ease Van Dyck could adapt his style to the prevailing bourgeois atmosphere of his native city. But it was his destiny to become a court artist, and when King Charles I, who had already purchased the beautiful Rinaldo and Armida, summoned him to England, Van Dyck felt obliged to answer the call.

The climactic phase of Van Dyck's career opened in 1632 with his appointment as "principalle Paynter in ordinary to their Majesties, " Charles I and his queen, Henrietta Maria. The King received the artist with the utmost consideration, awarded him a knighthood, and showered him with commissions.

As court painter, Van Dyck did not spend all his time in England. He was in Brussels and Antwerp during much of 1634. In 1640 and 1641 he made visits to Antwerp and Paris. By the latter year his health had begun to fail. He died in London in December 1641.

Achievements

• Sir Anthony van Dyck was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England, after enjoying great success in Italy and Flanders. He is most famous for his portraits of Charles I of England and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance that was to be the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next 150 years. He also painted biblical and mythological subjects, displayed outstanding facility as a draughtsman, and was an important innovator in watercolour and etching.
  
  The Van Dyke beard is named after him.

Works

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  • Portrait of Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio

  • Portrait of a Lady

  • Abraham and Isaac

  • Lucas Vorsterman

  • Portrait of a Lady, presumed to be the Marquise Geromina Spinola Doria de Genes (oil on canvas)

  • Portrait of Isabella van Assche, Wife of Justus van Meerstraten (d.1639) 1634 35 (oil on canvas)

  • Portrait of Henry Danvers, Earl of Danby, as a Knight of the Order of the Garter

  • Portrait of Marchesa Elena Grimaldi, wife of Marchese Nicola Cattaneo

  • Portrait of Anne Carr, Countess of Bedford

  • Nicholas Lanier

  • Isabella Brandt

  • Crowning with Thorns

  • Portrait of Anna van Craesbecke

  • Arthur Goodwin, M.P. (oil on canvas)

  • The Rest on the Flight to Egypt

  • Portrait of Maria Louisa de Tassis

  • Emperor Charles V on Horseback

  • Self portrait with a Sunflower

  • Portrait of Charles II When Prince of Wales

  • Portrait of the Three Eldest Children of Charles I

  • Queen Henrietta Maria

  • Portrait of Joost de Hertoghe

  • Charles I, King of England, from Three Angles

  • Portrait of Jacques Le Roy

  • George Gage with Two Men

  • Jupiter and Antiope

  • Portrait of the Artist Marten Pepijn

  • Portrait Of Philip, Lord Wharton

  • The Lamentation

  • Portrait of Emmanuel Philibert

  • Portrait of Justus van Meerstraeten

  • The Penitent Apostle Peter

  • Portrait of a Gentleman Dressed in Black, in Front of a Pillar

  • Anna Wake

  • Queen Henrietta Maria

  • Marie Clarisse, Wife of Jan Woverius, with Their Child

  • Portrait of a Flemish Lady

  • Rinaldo and Armida

  • Charles I of England and Henrietta of France

  • Double Portrait of the Painter Frans Snyders and his Wife

  • Portrait of the Painter Cornelis de Wae

  • Portrait of a Married Couple

  • Lady Elizabeth Thimbleby and Dorothy, Viscountess Andover

  • Apostle Jude

  • Portrait of Marcello Durazzo

  • Head of a Robber

  • Equestrian Portrait of Charles I, King of England with Seignior de St Antoine

  • Portrait Of Frederik Hendrik

  • Titian's Self Portrait with a Young

  • Portrait of a Gentleman, Putting on his Gloves

  • Portrait of Marguerite of Lorraine, Duchess of Orleans

  • Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness

  • Portrait of a Gentleman

  • Charles I, King of England at the Hunt

  • Self Portrait

  • Samson and Delilah

  • Portrait of Pieter Bruegel the Younger

  • An Apostle

  • Margareta Snyders

  • St George and the Dragon

  • Snyders

  • Porrtrait of the Sculptor Duquesnoy

  • Portrait of a Noble Genoese Lady

  • Cornelis van der Geest

  • Sir Robert Sherly

  • Christ on the Cross

  • Lady Borlase

  • Johan Oxenstierna

  • St Jerome

  • Blessed Joseph Hermann

  • St. Mary's Church at Rye, England

  • Portrait of Dona Polyxena Spinola Guzm de Lagan's

  • Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford in an Armor

  • Young Woman with a Child

  • Emperor Theodosius Forbidden by St Ambrose To Enter Milan Cathedral

  • Prince Rupert von der Pfalz

  • Portrait of a Lady Dressed in Black, Before a Red Curtain

  • George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol and William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford

  • Portrait of Nicolaes van der Borght

  • Nicolaes van der Borght, Merchant of Antwerp

  • Portrait of Henri II de Lorraine, Duc de Guise

  • Profile Study Of A Bearded Old Man

  • Susanna and the Elders

  • Maria Bosschaerts, Wife of Adriaen Stevens

  • Genoese Noblewoman with her Son

  • An Aristocratic Genoese

  • Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel and Surrey with His Grandson Lord Maltravers

  • Virgin with Donors

  • Maria and child and Saints

  • Portrait of Susanna Fourment and Her Daughter

  • James Stuart, Duke Of Richmond And Lennox With His Attributes

  • Portrait of Anna Dalkeith, Countess of Morton, and Lady Anna Kirk

  • Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria with Charles, Prince of Wales and Princess Mary

  • Lord John and Lord Bernard Stuart

  • Self portrait

  • Portrait of a Military Commander bust length in Profile in Damascened armour with white colland red sash

  • Portrait of the Princes Palatine Charles Louis I and his Brother Robert

  • Philippe Le Roy

  • Self-portrait

  • Agostino Pallavicini

  • Portrait of a Man in Armour with Red Scarf

  • Equestrian Portrait of Charles I, King of England

  • Portrait of Prince Charles Louis, Elector Palatine

  • Sir Endymion Porter and the Artist

  • Portrait Of A Monk Of The Benedictine Order, Holding A Skull

  • Lucas van Uffelen

  • Queen Henrietta Maria and her dwarf Sir Jeffrey Hudson

  • Portrait of Mary Ruthven, wife of the artist

  • Rubens mourning his wife

  • Portrait of Queen Henrietta Maria

  • An Apostle with Folded Hands

  • Portrait of Adriaen Stevens

  • Franзois Langlois

  • Portrait of Cornelis van der Geest

  • The Assumption of the Virgin

  • Family Portrait

  • Charles I in Three Positions

  • Martin Ryckaert

  • Pieter Stevens

  • Portrait of an Unknown Woman

  • The Capture of Christ

  • Portrait of Maria Lugia de Tassis

  • Teresia, Lady Shirley

  • Cupid and Psyche

  • Philip, Fourth Lord Wharton

  • Portrait of Marchesa Balbi

  • Portrait of Clelia Cattaneo, Daughter of Marchesa Elena Grimaldi

  • The five eldest children of Charles I

  • Portrait of Lady d Aubigny

  • Portrait of Giovanni Vincenzo Imperiale

  • Marchesa Geronima Spinola

  • Evangelist John

  • The Lamentation of Christ

  • Philip, 4th Earl of Pembroke and His Family

  • Portrait of a Noblewoman

  • Venus asking Vulcan for the Armour of Aeneas

  • Charles I on horseback

  • Portrait of Porzia Imperiale and Her Daughter

  • William II, Prince of Orange and Princess Henrietta Mary Stuart, daughter of Charles I of England

  • Portrait of a Girl as Erminia Accompanied by Cupid

  • Mozes and the brass snake

  • Portrait of Father Jean Charles della Faille

  • The Vision of St Anthony

  • The Lomellini Family

  • Deposition

  • Avenue in the country

  • Saint Bartholomew

  • Charles I, King of England

  • Studies of a Man0s Head

  • Marie de Raet

  • Portrait of a Lady

  • Crucifixion

  • Wife of an Aristocratic Genoese

  • Portrait of Philadelphia and Elisabeth Cary

  • The Wife and Daughter of Colyn de Nole

  • Portrait of a Young General

  • George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and His Brother Lord Francis Villiers

  • A Meadow, Surrounded by Trees

  • Nicolaas Rockox

  • Portrait of Filippo Cattaneo, Son of Marchesa Elena Grimaldi

  • Silenus Drunk

  • Portrait of Virginio Cesarini

  • Portrait of the Prefect Raphael Racius

  • St Martin Dividing his Cloak

  • Portrait of a Member of the Balbi Family

  • Portrait of an English Gentleman

  • Lady Lucy Percy

  • Diana Cecil, Countess of Oxford

  • Portrait of Endymion Porter

  • Golgotha

  • Sheet of Studies

  • James Stuart, Duke of Lennox and Richmond

  • Portrait of Sir Thomas Chaloner

  • Thomas Killigrew and William, Lord Crofts

Membership

He was a Member of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke.

Connections

Anthony married Mary Ruthven, the daughter of Patrick Ruthven, who, although the title was forfeited, styled himself Lord Ruthven. She was a Lady in waiting to the Queen, in 1639-40; this may have been instigated by the King in an attempt to keep him in England. They had a daughter.

Father:

France Van Dyke

Spouse:

Mary Ruthven

References

• Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of Paintings
• Van Dyck in Sicily: 1624-1625 Painting and the Plague
• The Drawings of Anthony Van Dyck
• Anthony van Dyck (Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Winter 1984-85, Vol. 42, No. 3)
• Anthony Van Dyck: A Life
• Anthony Van Dyck as Printmaker
• Anthony Van Dyck
• Anthony Van Dyck 1599-1641
• Anthony van Dyck: Thomas Howard, The Earl of Arundel (Getty Museum Studies on Art)
• Anthony van Dyck: 129 Masterpieces (Annotated Masterpieces Book 62)