Sir Anthony Van Dyck

VAN DYCK, SIR ANTHONY ( ) , Flemish painter, was born in Antwerp on March 22, 1599. Though the name of Van Dyck is frequently met with in the list of Antwerp painters, Anthony's pedigree cannot be traced beyond his grand parents, who were silk mercers of some standing. He was the seventh of twelve children of Frans Van Dyck, an Antwerp merchant. His mother, Maria Cupers, who died when he was eight years of age, attained a certain degree of excellence in art needlework. The boy was little over ten when he was apprenticed to Hendrick Van Balen, the painter of many delicate little pic tures and the master of Snyders. From a document in the state paper office at Brussels, relating to a lawsuit between a picture dealer and an Antwerp churchman, which arose out of the sale, in 166o, of a series of Apostles' heads ascribed to Van Dyck, it appears that, as far back as 1615, Van Dyck had worked inde pendently, with pupils of his own, and that his pictures were greatly valued by artists and amateurs. Professor Woermann has identified several of the Apostles' heads here spoken of with some paintings in the gallery at Dresden. Others, probably be longing to a second series executed by pupils and retouched by the master are in the possession of Earl Spencer at Althorp.

Early Works.

Before he was nineteen (February 1618) Van Dyck became a full member of the Antwerp gild of painters; and some idea of his ability at the time may be gained from the excellent portraits of an old lady and gentleman, formerly ascribed to Rubens, in the Dresden gallery. But the same ad miration cannot be accorded to the earliest religious composition known to have been painted by him—"Christ falling under the Cross," in St. Paul's at Antwerp. At first sight it seems also that with him, as with most other Flemish painters of the period, every conception, whether sacred or profane, needed to be cast in the 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 information from Sir Kenelm Digby, Van Dyck's bosom friend, tells us that he was first employed in making drawings (probably also chiaros curos) for the use of the great master's engravers, and that among works of the kind one of the first was the "Battle of the Amazons" (1619).

In 162o Van Dyck was working with Rubens, for on March 20, in making arrangements with the Antwerp Jesuits for the decoration of their church, the master is allowed to avail himself of his pupil's assistance, and obtains for him the promise of a picture. Van Dyck left for England in the autumn of 162o. There is evidence in the order books of the exchequer of Van Dyck's presence in London till the end of February 1621. What Van Dyck did in London is not known. 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 National Gallery (London), and from his own likenesses of himself when still quite young and beardless, in the National Gallery, in the Pinakothek at Munich and, as Paris, in the Wallace Collection.

Residence in Italy.

Van Dyck's next journey was to Italy. He left Antwerp on Oct. 3, 1621, and arrived at Genoa on Nov. 21. Though Van Dyck unquestionably first became acquainted with the masterpieces of the great Venetian colourists in Rubens's atelier, most of the pictures which were formerly ascribed to his earliest period probably date from the years of his Italian journey.

In fact, studies for some of them can be found in the Chatsworth sketch-book. Among these early works are the "Martyrdom of St. Peter" (Brussels), the "Crowning with Thorns" (Berlin), and the "Betrayal of Christ" (Madrid, a replica formerly Lord Methuen's is now in America). A sketch of the same subject is at Doughty House, Richmond.), "St. Martin dividing his Cloak" (Windsor Castle),—a magnificent production. On a re duced scale, and with the omission of two or three figures, the "St. Martin" at Saventhem church is a reproduction of the pic ture at Windsor Castle With the exception of a short visit to Antwerp at the time of his father's death in 1622, Van Dyck spent the next five years in Italy. There can be no doubt as to the great influence exerted by the works of Titian, Paul Veronese and other masters of the Venetian school in the development of his genius ; still the indi viduality of the painter remains a striking feature of what may be termed his Italian works, especially portraits. Their peculiar character seems to originate even more in the stateliness of his sitters than in any desire to follow individual predilection or pre vailing fashion. It is difficult to trace with certainty the course of the artist's travels in Italy. He made a prolonged stay at Venice; at Rome, he resided with Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio, who had been papal nuncio in Flanders from 16o7 to 1617. For this patron were painted several important works, the most re nowned being the prelate's own portrait, now in the Pitti Palace at Florence. Another work was a "Crucifixion" spoken of by Bellori —but which cannot be identified with certainty among the many replicas of the subject existing at Antwerp, Genoa, Vienna and Munich. He also painted religious subjects and portraits, such as the portrait of Duquesnoy, better known as Fiammingo, the famous sculptor, and those of Sir Robert Shirley and his wife, in Persian attire. In the company of Lady Arundel he travelled to Turin, but he was eager to reach Genoa; here he probably painted the portraits of Luke and Cornelis de Wael, now in the Pinacoteca Capitolina at Rome (a monochrome replica at Cassel). Genoa can still boast of a good number of his most attractive productions, portraits of the beautiful ladies and haughty cavaliers of the noble houses of Doria, Brignole Sale, Pallavicini, Balbi, Cattaneo, Spinola, Lommelini and Grimaldi. It would scarcely be possible to speak too highly of such works as the portrait of the lady in white satin and the Durazzo children at the Durazzo Palace, the Balbi children from Panshanger now lent to the National Gallery, the Marchesa Balbi, formerly at Dorchester House, the equally beautiful portraits of the Lommelini and of the knight in black armour, buff jacket and boots in the Scottish National Gallery at Edinburgh, or the Marchesa Brignole Sale (Warwick Castle). Van Dyck's 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 recent study of Titian, but also in decorative necessities—the size of the palatial galleries and the 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. In Italy, more over, he found those gorgeous backgrounds—flowing draperies, beautifuLgardens, ornamental pillars, marble terraces and balus trades—which elsewhere must be regarded as fictions merely.