Just as happened in architecture and sculpture, Flemish painting developed clear differences with Dutch painting. This became more evident after 1609, when it was signed the 12-year truce that definitively established the separation of the former Netherlands into two groups. Contrary to Protestant Holland at the north, Flanders at the south relied politically on Spain and spiritually on Rome. The distance from Madrid allowed the court of Brussels to act as if it was an independent country, whose national characteristics, with such a marked personality, were affirmed at the pace of its economic prosperity and the beginning of the capitalist development centered in the rich city of Antwerp. It is logical that Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio (then an ecclesiastical diplomat) found the court of Brussels “more cheerful and pleasant [than that of Madrid], because of the greater freedom of the country and the mixture of people who were living there.”
These characteristics were summoned in the painting of Rubens, the dominant genius of the Flemish Baroque. His powerful artistic temperament, his sense of the vitality of form as a reflection of the opulence with which life manifests everywhere, his mastery at composition, will be detailing in an essay dedicated to him. But first, we will deal with the other painters who made up the rich ‘picture’ of Baroque painting in Flanders. Together, Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Antoon van Dyck (1599-1641), and Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678) became then the leading Flemish Baroque painters of the time.
Antoon van Dyck began as a disciple of Rubens. He was born in Antwerp in 1599, the son of a wealthy silk-merchant; the seventh of 12 children. His artistic talent was evident very early and when he was 10 years old, he started his formal training as a painter. Van Dyck probably left his master’s workshop in 1615 or 1616 to set up his independent workshop before becoming a master painter. By the age of 15 he was already a highly accomplished artist, as shown by his Self-portrait (ca. 1615). He was then admitted to the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke as an independent master on Saint Luke’s day, 18 October 1617.
Self-Portrait at the Age of Sixteen, oil on wood, by Antoon van Dyck, ca. 1615, 26 x 20 cm (Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna, Austria). This painting is the earliest of VAn Dyck’s self-portraits.
Within a few years Antoon became the chief assistant to Peter Paul Rubens, then the leading master painter of the whole of Northern Europe. Rubens’ influence on the young artist was immense. He referred to the 19-year-old van Dyck as “the best of my pupils”.
However, in 1620 Van Dyck made his first trip to England, at the suggestion of George Villiers, Marquess of Buckingham, and was hired by the crown where he worked for King James I, with a salary of £100 a year. While in London, he had the opportunity to first saw the work of Tiziano in the collection of the Earl of Arundel, whose use of color and subtle modeling of form would greatly influence him with a new stylistic language that would enrich the compositional lessons he learned before from Rubens. “Van Dyck,” wrote the agent of the Earl of Arundel, “is parallel to Rubens, and his works begin to be as esteemed as those of his master. He is a young man of only 20 years, the son of a rich family, which is why I think it would be difficult for him to leave Antwerp, especially seeing the fortune Rubens is making there.”
The Two Saints John, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, ca. 1620, 49 x 63 cm (Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, Spain). The canvas depicts Saints John the Evangelist (left) and John the Baptist (right), with their corresponding attributes; the young Evangelist with the eagle and the books, the Baptist with the lamb, walking stick and ragged clothes.
Drunken Silenus, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, 1620, 107.0 × 91.5 cm (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, Germany). In Greek mythology, Silenus was the faithful companion and tutor of Dionysus, the god of wine. As a close friend of Dionysus, Silenus always had unlimited access to wine, and hence he was prone to be drunk, a vignette portrayed here by van Dyck still showing strong influences of his master Rubens.
Jupiter and Antiope, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, ca. 1620, 150 x 206 cm (Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent, Belgium). This earlier painting by van Dyck shows Jupiter disguised as a satyr (we know he is Jupiter because he’s accompanied by his eagle, one of the god’s attributes) in the act of discovering the sleeping nymph Antiope. There are two canvases with this same theme painted by van Dyck, both from ca. 1620, one in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts of Ghent (Belgium), and the other in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne (Germany).
This first stay in England was short-lived and the painter returned to Antwerp about four months later, but it was only to say goodbye to Rubens and to embark on a long trip through Italy in late 1621, where he remained for six years. Aware of the value of his art, before leaving his master he gave him three of his paintings. Instead, Rubens gave Van Dyck an Andalusian horse that he held in high esteem for his disciple to ride during the trip. In Italy, he studied the Italian masters while starting a successful career as a portraitist. In Rome he became famous for his elegant bearing and refined manners which annoyed the rather bohemian Northern artist’s colony in Rome. Van Dyck was unlike those foreign painters of the Baroque period that visited Rome, regular visitors to inns and brothels. Since he was accustomed in the circle of Rubens to noblemen, and being naturally of elevated mind, his gloves, his horse, even his servants were a source of ridicule. He was mostly based in Genoa, although he also travelled extensively to other cities, and stayed for some time in Palermo and Sicily.
“The gentleman painter”, when he put down his brushes, enjoyed the most distinguished social life, and, meanwhile, he consciously studied the great Venetian masters; thus his style became increasingly polished and his color palette richer and brighter. His Susanna and the Elders (ca. 1621-1622) and Madonna of the Rosary (1623-1624) belong to this Italian period.
Susanna and the Elders, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, ca. 1621-1622, 194 x 144 cm (Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany).
Madonna of the Rosary, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, 1623-1624, 397 x 278 cm (Oratorio del Rosario di San Domenico, Palermo, Italy).
Saint Rosalia interceding on behalf of the plague victims of Palermo, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, ca. 1624 or 1625, 165 x 138 cm (Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, United States of America). This is one of five surviving works depicting Saint Rosalia which van Dyck produced whilst he was quarantined in Palermo due to the plague.
These two canvases, among many others, already show what would be his style, characterized by an elegant formal nervousness. In both we can also appreciate the influence that Tiziano and the Venetian painters had on him. From this period there are numerous portraits, such as Cardinal Bentivoglio (ca. 1625) and various figures of the nobility of Genoa: Doria (1626-1627), Pallavicini (1621), Cattaneo (ca. 1623), etc. Particularly for the Genoese aristocracy, Van Dyck developed a full-length portrait style, taking as inspiration the works of Veronese and Tiziano as well as the style of Rubens, depicting extremely tall but graceful figures that look down on the viewer with great pride and arrogance.
Portrait of Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, ca. 1625, 195 x 147 cm (Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, Italy). Cardinal Guido Bentivoglio (1579-1644), an Italian statesman and historian, commissioned this portrait of himself from van Dyck. As papal nuncio (ambassador), he worked to establish peace between the Catholics and the Protestants in Flanders, as well as the Catholics and the French Protestants (the Huguenots) in France. In this painting by van Dyck, the influence of his master Rubens is clear: notice the long, sensitive fingers and the lush depiction of fabrics.
Portrait of a noble Genoese Lady, presumed to be the Marquise Geromina Spinola-Doria de Genes, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, 1626-1627, 239 x 17m cm (Museé du Louvre, Paris, France).
Portrait of Agostino Pallavicini, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, ca. 1621, 217.5 x 142.2 cm (Getty Center, Los Angeles, California, United States of America). Agostino Pallavicini, a member of the Genoese branch of the Pallavicini family and the future doge of Genoa, sits enveloped by the sumptuous, flowing red robes worn in his role as ambassador to the pope. The wide expanse of fabric, spectacularly rendered, seems to have a life of its own and almost seems to take over the painting. The luxurious swirl of cloth, its brilliant sheen, and the way it glimmers and reflects light display Antoon van Dyck’s virtuosity as a painter. The family coat of arms seen on the drapery behind the sitter at the left firmly establishes Pallavicini’s identity. This was one of the first paintings van Dyck made in Italy to commemorate the sitter’s service as an ambassador to the newly elected Pope Gregory XV.
Portrait of the Marchesa Elena Grimaldi Cattaneo, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, ca. 1623, 246 × 173 cm (National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., United States of America). During his stay in Genoa, Van Dyck’s portraits immortalized the dignity and splendid scale of living of his wealthy patrons. This Genoese noblewoman is shown on the terrace of her palace. The soaring columns and cloud-swept sky add a sense of height and dignity to her majestic figure, while the brilliant red parasol relieves the otherwise somber color scheme. The seemingly tall sitter with pale white skin is accompanied by a shorter man with brown skin. Placed at the center of the composition, Marchesa Elena wears a voluminous, long-sleeved, black dress with a row of gold buttons down the front. She has a wide, gray ruffled collar at her neck and red ruffled cuffs at her wrists. Her brown hair is pulled back under a cap ornamented with rows of white pearls. She fixes her stare at the viewer while holding a sprig of orange blossoms in her right hand. Her companion leans into the pictorial space from the right as he holds a crimson-red parasol over and behind the woman’s head. He wears an amber-yellow garment over a white shirt. Fluted columns rise along the right edge of the composition, and the terrace is enclosed with a low balustrade visible to the left. Plants surround the woman’s feet, and a distant landscape below a blue sky is visible to the left.
Van Dyck returned to Antwerp in 1627, where he remained for five years establishing there his workshop, where he executed the commissions he received from all over, particularly more affable portraits which still made his Flemish patrons look as stylish as possible.
King Charles I of England was a passionate collector of art, seeing painting as a way of promoting his elevated view of the monarchy. Charles was very short, less than 1.5 m tall, which presented challenges to a portrait artist. Meanwhile, Van Dyck remained in touch with the English court and helped King Charles’s agents in their search for paintings in the Netherlands. He sent some of his own works, and in April of 1632, van Dyck returned to London and was immediately taken under the wing of the court, being knighted in July and at the same time receiving a pension of £200 a year, with the title of principalle Paynter in ordinary to their majesties (chamber painter to Charles I). This monarch, chivalrous and elegant, necessarily had to get along with Van Dyck, the artist of the finest distinction. He therefore assigned him a splendid salary and put at his disposal a house on the River Thames at Blackfriars then just outside the city of London and a suite of rooms in Eltham Palace, no longer used by the royal family, as a country retreat. His studio in Blackfriars was frequently visited by the King and Queen, who hardly sat for another painter while van Dyck lived.
Charles I, who never tired of demonstrating his sympathy towards the painter, even married him to the young Mary Ruthwen, a lady-in-waiting to the Queen. For his part, Van Dyck painted wonderful portraits of Charles I. The most famous is one in the Louvre (ca. 1635), in which the king has just dismounted from his hunting horse, and with an indefinable look and a gesture of those that only a great artist can capture, he turns towards the viewer. Van Dyck also painted countless portraits of the royal princes, which were sent by Charles I, as a gift, to the other courts of Europe. He painted portraits of the queen and the English lords, with whom he maintained the most cordial relations. A painting from the Prado Museum (1632-1641) represents van Dyck, dressed gracefully in black, next to the knight Endymion Porter, a palace nobleman who had introduced him to King Charles I. In another portrait from the Louvre (ca. 1640) we already notice the passing of the years, but without losing his somewhat tender, almost childlike appearance.
Charles I at the Hunt, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, ca. 1635, 266 x 207 cm (Musée du Louvre, Paris, France). This portrait of Charles I of England depicts the king in civilian clothing and standing next to a horse as if resting on a hunt. Charles is depicted in lighter colors to the left of the painting, standing against the darker ground and the shadowed servants and horse under a tree to the right; his dark hat prevents his face from appearing washed out by the sky. Charles is dismounted, and stands as if surveying his domain and the sea beyond. The king was famously sensitive about his height, and the painting compensates by placing the viewer at a low-angle point of view, looking up at the king. A Latin inscription on a rock in the lower right corner establishes his rights as a king: Carolus.I.REX Magnae Britanniae (“Charles I, King of Great Britain”). Charles is dressed as an aristocratic gentleman wearing a wide-brimmed hat, teardrop earring, shimmering silver satin doublet, red breeches, and leather boots, apparently resting during a day of hunting. With a sword to his left, his right hand rests on a walking stick; the left rests on his hip, holding his gloves as a sign of assurance. The painting also shows a young page and Charles’ art dealer and favored courtier, Endymion Porter, who is holding the horse. This painting, commissioned by the King, is considered one of the masterpieces by Van Dyck and it is one of the great equestrian portraits the artist made of Charles I. The fine, Venetian-inspired landscape setting, and the relaxed attitude of the king and his companion accord very well with the popularity of pastoral subject matter in contemporary literature and visual arts.
Charles I in Three Positions, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, 1635-1636, 99.4 cm × 84.4 cm (Royal Collection, Windsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire, United Kingdom). In this triple portrait of the king, van Dyck shows Charles I from three viewpoints: left full profile, face on, and right three-quarter profile. The colors of the costumes and pattern of the lace collars are different in each portrait, though the blue ribbon of the Order of the Garter is present in all three. The painting was sent to Rome in 1636 to be used as a reference work for the Italian sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini to create a marble bust of Charles I. Pope Urban VIII sent the bust to Charles’s queen Henrietta Maria in 1638 in the hope of encouraging a reconciliation of the Roman Catholic Church with the Church of England.
Portrait of Charles I with M. de Saint-Antoine, his Riding Master, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, 1633, 368 × 270 cm (Royal Collection, Buckingham Palace, London, United Kingdom). This is the first equestrian portrait of Charles I painted by van Dyck. Charles is depicted as a chivalrous knight and sovereign riding a large, muscular white horse under a neoclassical triumphal arch, from which hangings of green silk fall. He is clad in parade armor with the blue sash of the Order of the Garter and carries a baton to symbolize his command of the military. Charles is viewed from below, as in van Dyck’s ca. 1635 painting Charles I at the Hunt, which disguises the king’s lack of stature. To the right stands his riding master, Pierre Antoine Bourdon, Seigneur de St. Antoine who looks up at the king while holding his helmet. A large royal coat of arms of the House of Stuart stands to the lower left of the painting displaying in its four quarters: 1st and 4th the fleur-de-lys of France and the three lions of England, 2nd the double lion of Scotland, and 3rd the harp of Ireland, all surmounted by a large crown.
Portrait of Charles I on Horseback, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, ca. 1637-1638, 365 x 289 cm (National Gallery, London, United Kingdom). This is the second equestrian portrait of Charles to be painted by Van Dyck. King Charles is wearing Greenwich-made armor and holding a commander’s baton. To the right, a page carries his helmet. In keeping with the imperial claim of the inscription (in Latin on the tablet tied to the tree in this portrait: CAROLUS I REX MAGNAE BRITANIAE – ‘Charles King of Great Britain’), the pose and woodland setting echo Tiziano’s equestrian portrait of the Emperor Charles V at Mühlberg (Tiziano’s painting itself recalled the famous ancient Roman bronze of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius on horseback). The composition may also borrow from Dürer’s 1513 engraving Knight, Death and the Devil. Over his armor Charles wears a gold locket bearing the image of Saint George and the Dragon. He wore it constantly; it contained a portrait of his wife, and was with him the day he was executed. Here, however, it identifies him with the Order of the Garter of which Saint George was patron. The view point is placed high above our heads, the horizon line ensures that our viewpoint is roughly at the level of the king’s stirrup, though his face is undistorted by foreshortening. Van Dyck’s three-quarter view refines the king’s features. This is one of several closely contemporaneous works depicting Charles riding a horse as a means to increase his stature.
The Three Eldest Children of Charles I, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, 1635-1636, 133.8 x 151.7 cm (Royal Collection, Windsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire, United Kingdom). This group portrait of Queen Henrietta Maria’s eldest children was commissioned to be sent to her sister, Christina, Duchess of Savoy, in exchange for portraits of the Duchess’s children. We see Prince Charles (the future King Charles II) wearing breeches, and his siblings James II and Mary accompanied by two of King Charles’ spaniels. The backcloth is a richly brocaded Italian cloth of gold woven with an asymmetrical branched pomegranate pattern. The colors of the clothing are opulent: a deep gold wore by the future king-to-be, contrasting with a rose pink and very blue note in the lighter garments of his siblings. The dogs are painted with remarkable fluency and a tender relationship is established between the two little boys, Charles and James.
Portrait of the Princes Palatine Charles-Louis I and his Brother Robert, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, 1637, 132 x 152 cm (Musée du Louvre, Paris, France). This portrait depicts the king Charles’ nephews, Princes Palatine Charles-Louis I and his Brother Robert. Charles-Louis (left), wearing the medallion of the Order of Saint George, and Robert (right). Their armor implies that they are going to war in Germany to recover the possessions of their father, Frederick V, prince (exiled) of the Palatinate and short-lived king of Bohemia. King Charles I commissioned their portrait before their departure.
Portrait of Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, 1632, 104 x 176 cm (Kroměříž Archdiocesan Museum, Kroměříž Chateau, Kroměříž, Czech Republic).
Queen Henrietta Maria with Sir Jeffrey Hudson, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, 1633, 219.1 x 134.8 cm (National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., United States of America). Van Dyck portrayed here Queen Henrietta Maria at age 24. It was probably commissioned as a painting that the king would traditionally present to a court favorite for political purposes. Henrietta Maria, sister of King Louis XIII of France, exerted a strong influence on court fashion and protocol, and introduced continental fashions and Italian style gardens to England. Van Dyck portrayed her dressed for hunting in a brilliant blue satin riding costume with a delicate lace collar. The queen’s attire create a sense of vibrancy and vitality. The queen’s love of entertainment is symbolized by the presence of 14-year-old Sir Jeffrey Hudson (a court dwarf) and Pug the monkey, both royal favorites. Even though the portrait shows a tall woman with an oval face, pointed chin, and long nose, the queen was reportedly of short stature, with a round head and delicate, almost sickly features. Van Dyck greatly idealized her in the portrait, something that surely pleased the queen. Van Dyck also revisited a compositional idea he first developed in Genoa during the early 1620s with his portrait of Marchesa Elena Grimaldi Cattaneo (see picture before): he portrayed the queen standing just beyond the portico of an imposing architectural structure. The fluted column emphasizes her already exaggerated height, and the crown and cloth of gold emphasize her royalty. The orange tree behind Henrietta Maria, is a visual homage to her powerful Florentine ancestors. The Medici crest contains five gold balls, thought to represent oranges from the family’s renowned citrus tree collection. A symbol of purity, chastity, and generosity, the orange tree was also associated with the Virgin Mary, Henrietta Maria’s patron saint.
Portrait of William II, Prince of Orange, and his Bride, Mary Stuart, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, 1641, 182.5 x 142 cm (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands). Mary (king Charles I’s daughter) and William (prince heir of the Netherlands) were children when they married: she was nine, and he was 14. Because Mary had a higher status, she appears on this portrait standing on the left. Mary’s wedding ring emphasizes the bond between Holland and England, which was strengthened with this marriage. She also wears another gift from William, a diamond brooch.
Portrait of Lord John Stuart and His Brother, Lord Bernard Stuart, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, ca. 1638, ca. 1638, 238 x 146 cm (National Gallery, London, United Kingdom). Early in 1639 the two Stuart brothers (Lord John Stuart and Lord Bernard Stuart, here aged about 17 and 16 respectively), cousins of King Charles I and younger sons of the third Duke of Lennox, set off on a three-year tour of Europe (the Grand Tour). They probably posed for Van Dyck just before their departure. The two brothers are shown as if poised on the point of departure, waiting perhaps for servants to bring up their carriage. Both were to die a few years later while fighting for King Charles I during the English Civil War. Van Dyck’s compositional skill is surpassed only by his matchless ability to depict satin, lace and soft leather. The costumes, so fashionably similar, are beautifully contrasted, receding warm gold and brown on Lord John, cooler and advancing silver and blue on Lord Bernard. The drape and hue of the luxurious fabrics are accentuated by the muted brown background. John is standing on a step, leaning on a stone plinth, looking into the distance past the viewer. Bernard has stepped up onto the step with his left leg, with his left hand resting on his hip so his left elbow juts out at an awkward angle; he is gazing directly at the viewer, and lifting the edge of his cape with his right hand to reveal its silk linking, and his embroidered jacket and breeches; he also has leather boots with spurs, and a sword. They are standing close together, alluding to their close relationship, but their opposed postures and divergent eyelines suggest some unresolved tension between them.
Self-portrait with Sir Endymion Porter, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, 1632-1641, 110 x 114 cm (Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain). Endymion Porter was a favorite courtier of King Charles I, for whom he bought works of art. This is van Dyck’s only self-portrait to include another figure, showing Porter’s importance in his life as one of his patrons. They met in 1620 during van Dyck’s first stay in London. Van Dyck presented this double portrait to Porter himself.
Self-portrait, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, ca. 1640, 56 x 46 cm (National Portrait Gallery, London, United Kingdom). This portrait is one of three known self-portraits painted by van Dyck when he was in England, and it probably dates from the last years of his life. The artist shows himself fashionably dressed but apparently in the act of painting, the line of his right shoulder and sleeve suggests his hand is raised in the process of applying paint to a canvas just out of sight.
However, it seems a fatal law that no one is content with the gifts nature had bestow upon him, and Van Dyck being a prodigious portrait painter, proposed to the king to decorate the Banqueting House at Whitehall with paintings related to the history of the Order of the Garter. Charles I, who at that time began to struggle with political difficulties and the shortage of public finances that ultimately lead him to the scaffold, could not carry out Van Dyck’s magnificent project. Van Dyck, displeased, went to Antwerp in 1634 and, after a brief return to England, he continued to Flanders and Paris (1640-1641), to propose other decorative projects to the king of France, like a commission to paint the Grande Gallerie of the Louvre Palace, which never took place. There he fell ill and died in his Blackfriars residence in 9 December 1641 just after returning to London, where he was later buried on 11 December in old St. Paul’s Cathedral. His mortal remains and tomb (erected by the king himself) were destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.
This painter, Flemish by origin, but educated in Italy, seemed truly destined to get along with the English temperament. The best and most aesthetic part of the England of the time was revealed by his portraits, whose colors are harmonious, without going to extremes in luxurious ranges, like those of Tiziano or the Italians. His work is delicate, fine, finished, without being monotonous. Some of his paintings have a spicy flavor of subtle snobbery. Apart from the mentioned portraits of Charles I and other figures of the royal family, are worth to appreciate those of Lord Wharton, called “The Man with the Cane” (1632), of the Duke of Lennox and Richmond (1633-1635), and those of aristocratic or flirtatious ladies like Mary Ruthwen (ca. 1640).
Portrait of Philip, Lord Wharton, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, 1632, 133 x 106 cm (National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., United States of America). The 19 year-old Philip, Lord Wharton was one of the first people to be portrayed by Van Dyck in England. The reference to Arcadia suggests Neoplatonic ideals of beauty and idyllic love; here the painting alludes to the occasion for the portrait, the marriage of the young lord. In this Arcadian portrait, Philip stands before a shimmering green drapery against a rocky backdrop, while holding a shepherd’s crook with his left arm. His regal pose and his sumptuous attire with its rich golden-yellow, purple, and emerald tones convey both grace and elegance, while his gaze exudes self-confidence.
Portrait of James Stuart, duke of Lennox and Richmond, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, ca. 1633–1635, 215.9 x 127.6 cm (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, United States of America). Van Dyck depicted the duke of Richmond and Lennox (the oldest brother of Lord John Stuart and His Brother, Lord Bernard Stuart, see picture before) as a paragon of aristocratic self-confidence. With a fashionable lock of hair spilling over his lace collar, the duke wears the insignia of the Order of the Garter, England’s highest order of chivalry. The portrait probably commemorates the duke’s receiving this honor in November 1633. The greyhound resting its muzzle on the duke’s hip alludes to the virtue of loyalty as well as to the aristocratic pastime of hunting.
Portrait of Mary Ruthwen, Lady Van Dyck, oil on canvas, by Antoon van Dyck, ca. 1640, 104 x 81 cm (Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain). Mary Ruthwen, a Scottish aristocrat, married Van Dyck in early 1640. This portrait must have been painted at that time, about two years before the painter’s death. Her hair tied up in a headdress of oak leaves probably alludes to the strength and perseverance that were symbolically associated with that tree. Portraying his wife, van Dyck gave the painting a broad sense of intimacy and affection, both highlighted by the gesture of her hands and gaze. With this image, Van Dyck moved away from the courtly portraits that he was painting in England in those years, to make a closer painting, of a domestic and private nature.
England, which would hardly ever get along with the naturalism lusciously depicted by Rembrandt, had to fall in love with Van Dyck’s style, more methodical and serene. This is an artist who may have a few great fans, but also no detractors and enemies.
The Artistic Adventure of Mankind 