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SIR ANTHONY VAN DYCK (1599–164r)

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 892 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIR See also:ANTHONY See also:VAN DYCK (1599–164r)  , Flemish painter, was See also:born in See also:Antwerp on the 22nd of See also:March 1599 . Though the name of See also:Van Dyck is frequently met with in the See also:list of Antwerp painters, See also:Anthony's See also:pedigree cannot be traced beyond his grandparents, who were See also:silk mercers of some See also:standing . He was the seventh of twelve See also:children of Frans Van Dyck, an Antwerp tradesman in See also:good circumstances . His See also:mother, Maria Cupers, who died when he was scarcely eight years of See also:age, seems to have attained a certain degree of excellence in See also:art See also:needlework . Of the boy's See also:early See also:education nothing is known . He was little over ten when he was apprenticed to Hendrick Van Balen, the painter of many delicate little pictures as well as an occasional collaborator of See also:Rubens and See also:Breughel, and the See also:master of See also:Snyders . From a document in the See also:state See also:paper See also:office at See also:Brussels, See also:relating to a lawsuit between a picture dealer and an Antwerp churchman, which arose out of - the See also:sale, in 166o, of a See also:series of Apostles' heads ascribed to Van Dyck, it appears that, as far back as 1615, Van Dyck had worked independently, with pupils of his own, and that his pictures were greatly valued by artists and amateurs . See also:Professor Woermann has identified several of the Apostles' heads here spoken of with some paintings in the See also:gallery at See also:Dresden . Another is in the See also:possession of See also:Earl See also:Spencer at Althorp . Before he was nineteen (See also:February 1618) Van Dyck became a full member of the Antwerp gild of painters; and some See also:idea of his ability at the See also:time may be gained from the excellent portraits of an old See also:lady and See also:gentleman, formerly ascribed to Rubens, in the Dresden gallery . Dated 1618, they were originally entered as See also:works of Van Dyck, and, as Professor Woermann observes, are undoubtedly the same as those spoken of by Mols in his MS. annotations on See also:Walpole's Anecdotes, now in the library at Brussels . But the same admiration cannot be accorded to the earliest religious See also:composition known to have been painted by him—" See also:Christ falling under the See also:Cross," in St See also:Paul's at Antwerp, This picture, of some ten See also:life-See also:size figures, still preserved in the See also:place for which it was originally destined, distinctly proves that from the outset of his career Van Dyck's See also:power of conception was vastly inferior to his refined See also:taste as a portrait painter .

At first sight it seems also that with him, as with most other Flemish painters of the See also:

period, every conception, whether sacred or profane, needed to be See also:cast in the See also:mould of Rubens . It would be too much, however, to assert that Van Dyck at this time stood under the guidance of that master; their association, indeed, does not seem to have begun until 1619, and Bellori (1672), who got his See also:information from See also:Sir Kenelm See also:Digby, Van Dyck's bosom friend, tells us that he was first employed in making drawings (probably also chiaroscuros) for the use of the See also:great master's engravers, and that among works of the See also:kind one of the first was the " See also:Battle of the See also:Amazons " (1619) . In 1620, we know, Van Dyck was working with Rubens, for on zoth March, in making arrangements with the Antwerp See also:Jesuits for the decoration of their See also:church, the master is allowed to avail himself of his See also:pupil's assistance, and obtains for him the promise of a picture . This See also:proof of Van Dyck's See also:personal reputation is fully confirmed (17th See also:July) by a correspondent of the earl of See also:Arundel, who speaks of Van Dyck as a See also:young See also:man of one-and-twenty whose works are scarcely less esteemed than those of his master, and adds that, his relations being See also:people of considerable See also:wealth, he could hardly be expected to leave his See also:home . Van Dyck was, however, thus persuaded, for on 28th See also:November Sir Toby See also:Mathew mentions the artist's departure to Sir See also:Dudley See also:Carleton, adding that he is in See also:receipt of an See also:annual See also:pension of £See also:loo from the See also:king . There is See also:evidence of Van Dyck's presence in See also:London till the end of February 1621 . He is first mentioned in the See also:order-books of the See also:Exchequer on the 17th of that See also:month as receiving a See also:reward of £loo " for See also:special service by him performed for His See also:Majesty," and on the 28th, " See also:Antonio van Dyck, gent., His Majesties servant, is allowed to travaile 8 months, he havinge obtayneid his Maii s leave in that behalf, as was signified by the E. of Arundel" What Van Dyck did in London is not known . Among his numerous paintings still preserved in See also:English houses one only is admitted as belonging to the period of this first visit, a full-length portrait of See also:James I. in the royal collection . That he was at the time a portrait painter of the rarest merit may easily be seen from the portrait of " Van der Geest " in the See also:National Gallery (London), and from his own likenesses of himself when still quite young and beardless, in the National Gallery, in the Pinakothek at See also:Munich and in the See also:Wallace Collection . In this last admirable specimen the young painter has represented himself in the See also:character of See also:Paris . Early paintings by Van Dyck are certainly not scarce in See also:British galleries; at See also:Dulwich there is his admirable See also:Samson and See also:Delilah, ascribed to the school of Rubens . Though the leave of See also:absence was probably obtained by Van Dyck for the purpose of studying the masters in See also:Italy, the eight months had almost elapsed before he started from Antwerp, whither he had gone from London .

He See also:

left Antwerp on the 3rd of See also:October 1621, and arrived at See also:Genoa on the 21st of November of the same See also:year . Though Van Dyck unquestionably first became acquainted with the masterpieces of the great Venetian colourists in Rubens's atelier, there can be little doubt that most of the pictures which were formerly ascribed to his earliest period really date from the years of his See also:Italian See also:journey . In fact, studies for some of them can be found in the See also:Chatsworth See also:sketch-See also:book . Among these early works are the " Martyrdom of St See also:Peter " (Brussels), the " Crowning with Thorns " (See also:Berlin), the " Betrayal of Christ " (See also:Madrid and See also:Lord See also:Methuen), " St See also:Martin dividing his Cloak " (See also:Windsor See also:Castle),—a magnificent See also:production, generally ascribed to Rubens, but easily identified through Van Dyck's admirable sketch at See also:Dorchester See also:House . It is unnecessary to dwell on a number of tales connected with Van Dyck's early life, all of which have on closer examination proved to be apocryphal; but one See also:story has been too frequently told to be altogether ignored . At the very outset of his Italian journey the inflammable youth was captivatedby the beauty of a See also:country girl, and for the love of her painted the See also:altar-piece still to be seen in the church at Saventhem, near Brussels, in which he himself is supposed to be represented on a See also:grey See also:horse, given by Rubens to his pupil . It is now known, however, that the picture was commissioned by a gentleman living at Saventhem (to the charms of whose daughter Van Dyck in reality seems not to have been altogether insensible), and a closer study makes it almost certain that it was executed after, not before, his Italian journey . On a reduced See also:scale, and with the omission of two or three figures, the " St Martin " at Saventhem is a See also:reproduction of the picture at Windsor Castle . With the exception of a See also:short visit to Antwerp at the time of his See also:father's See also:death in 1622, Van Dyck spent the next five years in Italy . No master from beyond the See also:Alps ever took up a higher position than Van Dyck among the most celebrated representatives of Italian art . Study, as a See also:matter of course, had been one of his See also:principal See also:objects . No doubt can be entertained as to the great See also:influence exerted by the works of See also:Titian, Paul Veronese and the other great masters of the Venetian school in the development of his See also:genius; still the individuality of the painter remains a striking feature of what may be termed his Italian works, especially portraits .

Their See also:

peculiar character seems to originate even more in the stateliness of the personages he was fortunate enough to have as sitters than in any See also:desire to follow individual predilection or prevailing See also:fashion . As in later years Van Dyck gives us a striking picture of the higher classes in See also:England, so at this See also:stage he makes us acquainted with Italian beauty and See also:style; and at no other period is his See also:talent more advantageously shown than in some of the glorious portraits he painted at See also:Rome, at See also:Florence, and, above all, at Genoa . At Rome, whither he journeyed after a prolonged stay in See also:Venice, he resided with See also:Cardinal Guido See also:Bentivoglio, who had been papal See also:nuncio in See also:Flanders from 1607 to .1617 . For this See also:patron were painted several works of very great importance, the most renowned being the See also:prelate's own portrait, now in the Pitti See also:Palace at Florence . Another See also:work was a " Crucifixion," representing Christ dying on the cross with uplifted eyes . Most probably the picture spoken of by Bellori ought to be identified with the admirable See also:canvas now in the gallery at See also:Naples, catalogued as " Scuola di Van Dyck," unsurpassed by any of those at Antwerp, Paris, See also:Vienna, Rome or elsewhere . Besides these he painted religious subjects and portraits, several of which are reckoned among his finest examples, such as the portrait of Duquesnoy, better known as Fiammingo, the famous sculptor, formerly belonging to the king of the Belgians, and those of Sir See also:Robert See also:Shirley and his wife, in See also:Persian attire, now at Petworth . Bellori tells us of Van Dyck's prepossessing See also:appearance, of his elegance and distinction, altogether so different from the habits of his compatriots in Rome, who formed a jovial " gang," as they termed their association . Van Dyck seems to have kept out of their way, and incurred in consequence such annoyance as made his stay in Rome much shorter than it would otherwise have been . In the See also:company of Lady Arundel he travelled to See also:Turin, but he was eager to reach Genoa, where Rubens had worked with great success some twenty years before, and where his Antwerp See also:friends, See also:Luke and Cornelis de Wael, for many years See also:resident in Italy, now were . Van Dyck remained their See also:guest for several months, and their portraits, now in the Pinacoteca Capitolina at Rome (engraved by W . See also:Hollar from the monochrome at See also:Cassel), may be supposed to have been one of his first Genoese productions .

Though several of the palaces of the " proud " See also:

city no longer retain their treasures, and, among the specimens of Van Dyck's genius still left, too many have been greatly injured by cleaning and retouching, Genoa can still boast of a good number of his most attractive productions, portraits of the beautiful ladies and haughty cavaliers of the See also:noble houses of See also:Doria, Brignole Sale, Pallavicini, See also:Balbi, Cattaneo,' See also:Spinola, Lommelini and See also:Grimaldi . It would Of the Cattaneo portraits, originally eight in number, seven were privately sold out of Italy in 1906, and in the following year one, a See also:half-length " Portrait of a Man," was acquired for the National Gallery, London, for £13,500 . The See also:official acquisition scarcely be possible to speak too highly of such works as the portrait of the lady in See also:white satin and the Durazzo children at the Durazzo Palace, the Balbi children at Panshanger, the Marchesa Balbi at Dorchester House, the equally beautiful portraits of the Lommelini and of the See also:knight in See also:black See also:armour, See also:buff jacket and boots in the Scottish National Gallery at See also:Edinburgh, or the Marchesa Brignole Sale (formerly at See also:Warwick Castle, and afterwards in See also:America) . Van Dyck's " Genoese manner " is a current expression, and indeed his Genoese portraits are remarkable for their richness of tonality and what might be called royal splendour, perhaps never before attained in works of the kind . This we may suppose to have had its origin, not only in his See also:recent study of Titian, but also in decorative necessities—the size of the palatial galleries and the See also:rich hues of the Genoese velvets, on which these portraits were to find their place, obliging the painter to find a most uncommon strength of contrast . It must also be acknowledged that the beauty and distinction of Van Dyck's See also:models are greatly enhanced by a splendour of See also:costume entirely different from the dullness then prevalent almost everywhere else . In Italy, more-over, he found the reality of those gorgeous backgrounds —flowing draperies, beautiful gardens, ornamental pillars, See also:marble terraces and balustrades—which elsewhere must be regarded as See also:fictions merely . Here, finally, he was for the first time called upon to paint some of his grandest equestrian portraits, and the often-recurring grey steed with flowing mane (an admirable study of which belongs to Lord Brownlow) was first employed for the portrait of Antonio Giulio Brignole (still at Genoa) and for another picture which we may suppose to represent the same personage at See also:Stafford House . As with Rubens, Titian seems to have been See also:paramount in Van Dyck's regard . Copies in great number we know he possessed of the master's best works, and several little sketches in the British Museum and in the Chatsworth sketch-book See also:bear proof of his devout study of the great Venetian . Some of Van Dyck's earlier paintings, religious and mythological—the " See also:Tribute See also:Money " (Brignole Palace), " See also:Holy See also:Family " (Turin), " Virgin and See also:Saints " (Louvre), " Virgin " (Grosvenor House), " Martyrdom of St See also:Lawrence " (S . Maria dell' Orto, Venice), " Bacchanal " (Lord See also:Belper)—engraved at Genoa as early as 1628—" St See also:Sebastian " (Edinburgh)—are certainly Titianesque in the extreme .

Still the master's individuality is not obliterated, and the gallery at See also:

Parma has a " Virgin with the See also:Infant Asleep," which may be termed a marvel of realistic simplicity . In 1624 Van Dyck sailed from Genoa to See also:Palermo and there painted several persons of See also:rank, including the See also:viceroy, See also:Emmanuel Philibert of See also:Savoy . While in See also:Sicily he became acquainted with the painter Sofonisba Anguisciola (or See also:Angussola), who was then ninety-six years of age and See also:blind; and he was wont to say that he had received more valuable information from a blind woman than from many a seeing man . No important works of Van Dyck are now to be found in Sicily, except the " Virgin and See also:Child " at S . Caterina in Palermo, and a " Virgin and Child with Saints " in the same city . Bellori tells us that a See also:plague See also:broke out and compelled him to leave abruptly, taking with him an unfinished picture of St Rosalia, which was destined for a confraternity of that name, and was completed in Genoa . The composition was repeated in Antwerp for the Bachelors' Brotherhood, a picture now in Vienna . Van Dyck most probably remained in Genoa till 1626, and here in all likelihood he painted the De Jodes, father and son, the celebrated engravers, who are represented together in a masterly portrait in the Capitol at Rome, the See also:companion picture to the See also:brothers De Wael; and See also:Nicholas Laniere, musician-in-See also:chief to See also:Charles I., a See also:painting spoken of in Van der See also:Dort's See also:catalogue as " done beyond the seas." Laniere was in Italy precisely at this time, and it was through his portrait (now at Windsor Castle), Walpole assures us, that Van Dyck attracted the See also:notice of Charles I . Traversing the Mont Cenis pass, Van Dyck stopped at See also:Aix of this picture, in view of the Italian See also:law of 1902, created consider-able discussion in Italy and England . The companion See also:female portrait was soon after also See also:purchased . with Peiresc, the famous See also:scholar and friend of Rubens, and probably proceeded straight to Antwerp . His beautiful portrait of See also:Langlois, the Paris See also:print-seller, from which it was conjectured that he spent some time at Paris, was unquestionably painted in Genoa .

It is very likely that, before settling again at Antwerp, Van Dyck at this time paid a second visit to England, to paint a portrait of See also:

Queen Henrietta Maria, but left again when he found Mytens firmly established as See also:court favourite . He probably returned to Antwerp in 1627, though there is no recorded proof of his presence before the 3rd of March 1628 . One of his sisters had died in a See also:convent the year before, and he now made a will in favour of Susan and See also:Isabella, two other sisters, also nuns . That Van Dyck was in Antwerp on the 18th of May is proved by a See also:letter from Lord See also:Carlisle to See also:Buckingham (Sainsbury, ciii.) . Great as may have been the strength of Italian See also:reminiscence, from the moment Van Dyck again trod Flemish See also:soil the influence of Rubens became predominant, and we can scarcely doubt that a competition speedily arose between master and pupil . At this period churches and convents were numerous and richly endowed; and the number of pictures, stained See also:glass windows and elaborate carvings in Belgian churches before the See also:French See also:conquest was enormous . Hardly fifty years had elapsed since these buildings had been stripped of their See also:artistic treasures, and the devout were now eager once more to adorn them with productions of the greatest painters . Hence Van Dyck's See also:share could be very copious without in any degree interfering with the vast undertakings assigned to Rubens . The latter was also absent for many months in 1629 and 1630, so that Van Dyck was for a time the first master in the See also:Netherlands . Among the earliest works after his return to Antwerp we find the " Crucifixion," given to the Dominican nuns, in accordance with the wish expressed by the painter's dying father, and now in the , Antwerp museum . The figures are life-size, and at the See also:foot of the cross, besides a weeping See also:angel, are St See also:Catherine of See also:Siena and St See also:Dominic . Neither in type nor in See also:general effect does it suggest the master's immediately preceding works .

As a new feature we observe a kind of elegance, not entirely See also:

free from mannerism, which is often conspicuous with Van Dyck even when the technical excellence commands our warmest admiration . See also:Inspiration, as See also:Waagen observes, was far more limited with Van Dyck than with Rubens . His truly delicate nature led him to restrain his conceptions within the See also:bounds of an See also:academic evenness, generally more pleasing to the uninitiated than the strength 'of expression which sometimes imparts a sort of violence to the works of Rubens . To Van Dyck's second—more justly speaking third—manner belong some of his best religious works . The " Crucifixion " in the See also:cathedral at Mechlin is termed by Sir See also:Joshua See also:Reynolds one of the finest pictures in the See also:world . Other Crucifixions are in St See also:Michael's at See also:Ghent (sketches in Lord Brownlow's collection and the Brussels museum) and in the church at See also:Termonde . Still finer are the two works painted for the Antwerp Jesuits and now at Vienna—" The Mystic See also:Marriage of the Blessed Herman See also:Joseph " and " St Rosalia Crowned by the Infant Saviour." To this period likewise belong the celebrated " See also:Elevation of the Cross " at Courtrai and the " St See also:Augustine in See also:Ecstasy," in the church of the Jesuits at Antwerp; the general effect of this last, it must be acknowledged with -Reynolds, is inferior to that of the beautiful See also:engraving by De Jode, and also to the earl of See also:Northbrook's magnificent sketch . At Dulwich we find the first idea of the composition, with many interesting See also:differences . It may be a matter of individual preference to pronounce Van Dyck's Flemish portraits See also:superior to those of an earlier period; but nobody can fail to admit that, technically speaking, they indicate a further step towards perfection . The darkness of the Genoese portraits has vanished; broad daylight now freely illuminates the See also:model, and such works as the portraits of Francisco de Moncada (Louvre) and of the See also:Count de Bergh (Prado) are perhaps as See also:close to material excellence as any painting could be . The full-length likenesses of See also:Philip Le See also:Roy (1630) and his wife (1631) (Wallace Collection) and of See also:Mary Louisa of Tassis (See also:Prince See also:Liechtenstein, Vienna) are not only the finest examples of the master's talent, but deserve to rank among the most beautiful portraits ever painted . The " Snyders " at Castle See also:Howard is regarded by Waagen as not inferior to the most celebrated Raphaels, Titians or Holbeins; and of almost equal excellence are the " Wife of See also:Colin de Nole " in the Munich gallery, the " Lady and her Daughter " at the Louvre, and the "Lady in Black " at Cassel .

Rapidly rising to See also:

honour and wealth, Van Dyck shared with Rubens the official See also:title of court painter, and his numerous portraits of the infanta in her monastic garb (Paris, Vienna, Turin, Parma, &c.) bear testimony to the great favour in which he stood with her . When See also:Marie de Medicis, after her See also:flight from See also:France, took up her See also:residence in Brussels (1631), she honoured Van Dyck, as well as Rubens, with repeated visits, and several times called upon him to paint her likeness, as well as those of Gaston of See also:Orleans and his wife See also:Margaret of See also:Lorraine, and several of the personages of their court . From Gerbier's letters we learn that Van Dyck at this time was contemplating another journey to England, and was very anxious to be commissioned by the infanta and the queen of France to take over their portraits as presents for the king and royal family . He soon travelled to the See also:Hague to paint the prince and princess of See also:Orange and their son . Quite at the beginning of 1632 See also: