Anthony van Dyck

Flemish painter

• Born: March 22, 1599
• Birthplace: Antwerp, Spanish Netherlands (now in Belgium)
• Died: December 9, 1641
• Place of death: London, England

Along with Rubens, van Dyck was one of the major Flemish artists of the seventeenth century. Recognized as a painter of portraits and religious subjects, he also was known for his etchings and landscape watercolors. He was knighted and appointed court painter to Charles I of England.

Early Life

Anthony van Dyck was born the seventh of twelve children. His father, Frans, was a prosperous Antwerp textile merchant. His mother, Maria Cuypers, was known for her skill in embroidery. In 1609, the ten-year-old Anthony was apprenticed to one of the city’s leading painters, Hendrick van Balen. It is speculated that the young artist was working independently prior to his acceptance as a painting master in the Guild of St. Luke in 1618. One of his first known works, Self-Portrait (1613-1614), was executed when he was about fourteen or fifteen. It displayed a sense of immediacy and technical facility.

Antwerp’s preeminent painter, Peter Paul Rubens, recognized Anthony’s talent. The celebrated master had developed a powerful visual language noted for heroic nude figures, dynamic compositions, and intense drama that appealed to secular rulers as well as leaders of the Counter-Reformation. He had an overwhelming impact on the art of his time and particularly on the young van Dyck, who could blend his work seamlessly with that of the older artist. The date of Anthony’s entry into Rubens’s studio is unknown, but it is believed that they were collaborating on works from about 1615 to 1620.

Van Dyck enjoyed early success in painting religious subjects. Saint Jerome , his first known large-scale religious painting, was produced about 1615. Many of these early works were altered versions of the compositions of Rubens. This was exemplified by van Dyck’s early apostles series as well as his composition for The Emperor Theodosius Is Forbidden by Saint Ambrose to Enter Milan Cathedral (c. 1619-1620).

The young artist struggled to emerge from Rubens’s shadow. Whereas the older master visualized figures in the round, van Dyck became more interested in surface pattern and texture. When he went to England in late 1620 to serve as a painter for King James I , he had the opportunity to study original Italian works. Paintings by Titian and other sixteenth century Venetian masters had an immediate impact on his style.

Few of van Dyck’s works from this period are documented, but characteristics of the mature artist began to emerge. In his portrait of Thomas Howard, Second Earl of Arundel (1620-1621), van Dyck used a freer technique and adopted Venetian portrait backdrops. Although it was a modest work, it showed van Dyck’s interest in portraying casual aristocratic elegance.

Life’s Work

In 1621, van Dyck returned to Antwerp, where he produced some of his best early works. He broke with the conventions of Flemish portrait painting and began to portray distinctive personalities characterized by their elegant movements and detailed costumes. Neutral backgrounds were discarded for landscape vistas. Curtains and accessories were introduced to enrich the settings. These changes were exemplified in the portrayal of Isabella Brandt (1621), the young wife of Rubens. This is considered to be among the best of van Dyck’s pre-Italian portraits.

From 1621 to 1627, van Dyck resided in Italy where he visited major art centers such as Genoa, Rome, Venice, Florence, and Palermo. His stay was documented in his sketchbook, now in the collection of the British Museum. By this time, van Dyck was recognized as a painter of both portraits and religious subjects. Major works from this period included the seated portrait of Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio (1623). He also executed Madonna of the Rosary , an altarpiece that he started in 1624 for the Oratorio del Rosario in Palermo and completed in 1627. It is regarded as one of the outstanding religious works of his Italian period. This painting, like many of his portrayals of the Madonna and Child, reflected the coloristic and expressive refinement of Titian’s Venetian altarpieces.

Van Dyck was in Genoa from 1625 to 1627. With commissions from local patricians, he further developed his portrait style. He depicted his subjects with slender figures and expressive hands. Although they were accurate likenesses, they had a look of remote grandeur and ease. His subjects were richly dressed, with careful renderings of lace, silk, satin, and velvet. They were posed against the backdrop of their opulent palaces and gardens. Cascades of background drapery created a sense of movement. These characteristics were exemplified in his multifigure depiction of The Lomellini Family (1625-1627).

Van Dyck was back in Antwerp from 1627 to 1632. Commissions for altarpieces, large-scale portraits, smaller devotional images, and mythologies were so numerous he had to employ assistants. Altarpieces from this period included the large-scale Saint Augustine in Ecstasy (1628), and the smaller Vision of the Blessed Herman Joseph (1630). He also painted The Crucified Christ with Saint Dominic and Saint Catherine of Siena (1629), considered to be among his best works. Antwerp was a Catholic city, and van Dyck’s intense emotionalism and mystical fervor reflected the religious intensity fostered by the Counter-Reformation.

While in Antwerp he was appointed court painter to Archduchess Isabella. His noted technical facility, smooth flowing brush strokes, and sensuous textures were evident in portraits such as Maria Louisa de Tassis (c. 1629) and Philippe le Roy (1632). Although each work was distinctive, he developed some standardization of form and created a repertoire of portrait types.

In 1632, van Dyck returned to England and the highly cultivated court of Charles I . The king, who admired the artist’s social graces as well as his work, appointed him to the position of principal painter. In addition to his salary and commissions, van Dyck was knighted, given a studio on the Thames at Blackfriars, and provided with a summer residence.

He worked in Antwerp and Brussels in 1634. At this time he began a series of small, monochrome portraits of famous contemporaries. They included princes, military commanders, politicians, scholars, artists, and collectors. He etched many of these himself. Plates of his drawings were issued individually, but the works were published posthumously as Icones principum vivorum doctorum pictorum… (1645), more commonly known as The Iconography. It became an important visual record of the time.

Van Dyck returned to England early in 1635. Working primarily on portraits of Charles I, Queen Henrietta Maria , and members of the aristocracy, he devised additional ways to dignify his subjects. Charles I on Horseback (c. 1637-1638) was reminiscent of the statue of Marcus Aurelius in Rome and Titian’s portraits of Charles V. Charles I at the Hunt (c. 1635) portrayed the king with an air of matchless elegance and unquestioned authority. Van Dyck depicted the royal children with great sensitivity; although they were formally posed, he captured their innocence and charm. He also painted Cupid and Psyche (c. 1637), one of his few mythologies. The sensuous figures, delicate colorations, and rich textures were highly acclaimed.

In 1639, he married Lady Mary Ruthven, lady-in-waiting to Queen Henrietta Maria. The following year the political situation in England was disintegrating and van Dyck, possibly preparing to re-establish himself on the Continent, undertook a series of travels between Antwerp, Paris, and London. He suffered ill health, perhaps from tuberculosis, and returned to London. His daughter Justiniana was born just before his death. He died December 9, 1641 at the age of forty-two and was honored with burial in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

Significance

Although van Dyck created dramatic religious works, he is remembered primarily for his genius as a portrait painter. He borrowed techniques that had been pioneered by artists such as Titian and Rubens, but he developed an elegant portrait style that had international impact. He was a brilliant colorist, combined formality with a sense of ease, and dignified his subjects, yet managed to capture their individuality. Opulent settings and suggestions of movement made them seem resplendent and alive.

Van Dyck transformed portraiture wherever he worked; painters throughout Europe emulated his style. He provided English history with an image of aristocratic society in the early part of the seventeenth century. His style resounded in works of great eighteenth century English portraitists such as Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds. Whether painting the rulers and aristocrats of the Netherlands, Italy, or England, he depicted the celebrities of his time and created a testament to the elegance of seventeenth century aristocratic and courtly life.

Bibliography

Blake, Robin. Anthony van Dyck: A Life, 1599-1641. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 2000. A carefully researched chronicle about the painter’s life and work. Notes, bibliography, and index.

Brown, Christopher, and Hans Vlieghe. Van Dyck, 1599-1641. New York: Rizzoli, 1999. This book was published to coincide with the exhibition of van Dyck’s major works in Antwerp and London. It includes high quality reproductions, comparative illustrations, and essays on the development of van Dyck’s work. Also includes a chronology, a bibliography, and an index.

Depauw, Carl, and Ger Luijten. Anthony van Dyck as a Printmaker. New York: Rizzoli, 1999. This work discusses van Dyck as a gifted draughtsman and printmaker. Includes reproductions, comparative illustrations, and a bibliography.

Meij, A. W. F. M. Rubens, Jordaens, Van Dyck, and Their Circle. Rotterdam, the Netherlands: NAI, 2001. A study of drawings by seventeenth century Flemish masters from the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam. Generously illustrated with pertinent essays.

Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. Catalog of the collection of seventeenth century Dutch paintings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., including Hals and many of his contemporaries.