Circle of Anton Van Dyck

Flemish School of the 17th century.
Anton Van Dyck circle (1599-1641).
"Portrait of a father with his son".
Oil on canvas.
Measurements: 109 x 75 cm; 133 x 100 cm (frame).

The model we present is closely related to the portrait of "Jean Richardot and his son Claude" by the master Van Dyck belonging to the collection of the Louvre Museum (INV 1244). Before delving into the execution of the work, it is important to mention that the identities of the sitters have not been confirmed and that they respond to a tradition rooted since the 17th century by the labels that the frame of the portrait bore and the different origins. Already in 1704 in the inventory of the Parisian collection of Louis Marie Victor, Duke d'Aumont de Rochebaron (1632-1704) it appears as a portrait of President Richardot and his son. However, other possibilities have been presented, such as Jan Woverius (circa 1574/76-circa 1636). This gentleman from Antwerp was an important local figure both for his political relations with Spain, as well as his positions in the administration, economy and humanism. There are some works executed by Rubens and Van Dyck that bear a remarkable resemblance to the model presented.

Regarding the authorship of the work we present here, it is difficult to specify since we are dealing with an early version of the original work by Van Dyck, probably executed as a replica of the Louvre model by a disciple or follower. It should be noted that the model was made around 1620 when the master was in his twenties. Near this date Van Dyck would have been closely linked to the workshop of Rubens and that same year would begin his first foray into England.

Anton Van Dyck began his training with the famous painter Van Balen in 1609. In 1615-16 he worked with Jordaens, and between 1617 and 1620 with Rubens, who said that he was his best pupil. In 1620 he visited England for the first time, in the service of James I, when he was only twenty-one years old. In London he enjoyed greater freedom and left aside religious painting to devote himself fully to portraiture. Between 1621 and 1627 he completed his training with a trip to Italy, being particularly impressed by Bolognese painting and the works of Titian. It was in Italy where he achieved his mature, refined and elegant style, as well as configuring his type of portrait, which became a model for Western painting. In Italy his fame as a portrait painter was also established, and he enjoyed immediate success wherever he worked, painting portraits of the most important noble families in Italy, as well as the Pope and various members of the Roman Curia. In 1629 he was again in London, this time working for King Charles I, who admired Titian's work and saw in Van Dyck his heir. Thus, he dismissed all his painters, having found in Van Dyck the court painter he had wanted for years. In 1640, on the death of Rubens, the painter returned to Antwerp to finish the works he had left unfinished. The following year he moved to Paris, where he painted the wedding portrait of King William II and Princess Mary. That same year he returned hastily to London for health reasons, dying shortly thereafter at his home in the English capital. Anton Van Dyck is represented in major museums around the world, such as the Louvre, the Prado, the Kunsthistorisches in Vienna, the National Gallery and the British Museum in London, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg and the Metropolitan in New York.