Van Dyck, << van DYK, >> Sir Anthony (1599-1641), was one of the most popular portrait painters of his time. He is sometimes known as Anton Van Dyck. The artist was sought after by the royalty, aristocracy, and upper-middle class of Flanders, Italy, and especially England. Van Dyck also painted religious and mythological pictures, and was a fine engraver and etcher.
Van Dyck’s style of portrait painting typically emphasized the elegance and wealth of his subjects. He often slightly exaggerated the height of the figure, and lengthened the outline of the hands to suggest greater refinement and stature. Many of Van Dyck’s figures are dressed in luxurious clothing painted in rich color. The settings characteristically include elegant furniture, draped tapestries, imported rugs, and large architectural elements such as columns. He also used landscape as background for his portraits.
Van Dyck was born on March 22, 1599, in Antwerp, in what is now Belgium. He showed great talent as a boy and had his own studio and pupils at the age of about 16. From about 1618 to 1620, he worked with the famous Antwerp painter Peter Paul Rubens. Van Dyck visited England briefly in 1620 and lived in Italy from 1621 to about 1627. Van Dyck’s portraits of the nobles of Genoa and their children rank among his finest works. His Italian paintings reflect the influence of the warm colors and loose brushwork of the Venetian Renaissance painter Titian.
After leaving Italy, Van Dyck returned to Antwerp. He went to England in 1632, where King Charles I made him court painter. Van Dyck painted about 350 portraits while in England, including about 40 of the king. His famous Portrait of Charles I Hunting (about 1635) cleverly combines flattering aspects of the aristocratic hunt and references to Charles’s authority as king. Van Dyck died on Dec. 9, 1641. His portraits of the English court established a tradition followed by Thomas Gainsborough and Sir Joshua Reynolds, English portrait painters of the 1700’s.
