Lady with a Fan
Sir Anthony van Dyck·c. 1628
Historical Context
Lady with a Fan (c. 1628), at the National Gallery of Art, depicts an unidentified woman of aristocratic bearing, likely painted shortly after Van Dyck's return from Italy to Antwerp in 1627. The sitter holds an ostrich-feather fan, a luxury accessory that signals her elevated social position, while her dark costume and composed demeanor project restrained elegance. The painting shows the synthesis Van Dyck achieved between Flemish portrait tradition and Italian refinement after his transformative Italian sojourn. The warm palette and atmospheric handling reflect his study of Titian, while the precise characterization and attention to costume maintain the Flemish commitment to descriptive truth. This balance of traditions would define Van Dyck's mature portrait style.
Technical Analysis
The portrait shows Van Dyck's refined Antwerp manner, with warm, luminous flesh tones and subtle handling of the fan's texture. The dark background creates dramatic contrast with the sitter's illuminated face and the light-catching edges of the fan.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the ostrich-feather fan signaling elevated social position, with the dark background creating dramatic contrast with the illuminated face.
- ◆Look at the synthesis Van Dyck achieved between Flemish portrait tradition and Italian refinement after his transformative Italian sojourn.
- ◆Observe the warm palette reflecting his study of Titian, balanced with Flemish descriptive truth in this c. 1628 post-Italy portrait.
Provenance
Probably Archduke Leopold Wilhelm [1614-1662], Brussels, by 1653.[1] Possibly Spinola family, Spain; possibly Marchesa Geronima Centurione, Genoa; probably Doria family, Genoa, by 1680;[2] probably by inheritance to Marchese Ambrogio Doria [d. 1913], Genoa;[3] probably by inheritance to his son, Marchese Giorgio Doria, Genoa;[4] (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Rome), by 1928;[5] sold March 1932 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[6] gift 1957 to NGA. [1] This painting was presumably in Archduke Leopold Wilhelm's collection by 1653, when David Teniers the Younger included it in a painting of the Archduke's cabinet. [2] Mario Menotti, "Van Dyck a Genova," _Archivio storico dell'arte_, 2nd series, anno 3 (1897): 444 note 3. According to Menotti, the painting had been brought to Genoa from Spain by Geronima Di Negro Centurione, who had acquired it from the Spinola family. He also identifies the painting with a reference in a 1680 inventory of the Doria collection, in which collection Otto Mündler saw the painting in April and October 1857; see "The Travel Diaries of Otto Mündler 1855-1858," ed. Carol Togner Dowd, _Walpole Society_ 51 (1985): 179, 276. [3] See Menotti 1897: 375, repro. [4] No specific evidence exists that the painting was in the son's collection. However, it is unlikely that Alessandro Contini Bonacossi would have already acquired this painting by the time of Ambrogio Doria's death in 1913. [5] A document dated 28 May 1928 from the Ministry of Education in the Commune of Rome establishes that Count Contini Bonacossi owned the painting by this time (see copy in NGA curatorial files). [6] A bill of sale for this painting dates to March 4, 1932, for which an export license was obtained later that summer (see copies in NGA curatorial files); see also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1209.
