Portrait of a Flemish Lady
Sir Anthony van Dyck·probably 1618
Historical Context
Portrait of a Flemish Lady (probably 1618), at the National Gallery of Art, is an early portrait from Van Dyck's first Antwerp period that shows the young artist already in command of a sophisticated portrait style. The unidentified sitter wears the elaborate ruff and dark costume characteristic of Flemish bourgeois fashion, presented with a combination of descriptive precision and atmospheric subtlety that distinguishes Van Dyck from other Flemish portraitists. The painting's refined tonality and sensitive characterization announce the emergence of a major portraitist, distinct from Rubens's more vigorous approach. At barely nineteen, Van Dyck was already developing the aristocratic elegance and psychological penetration that would make him the supreme portrait painter of his generation.
Technical Analysis
The elaborate millstone ruff is painted with meticulous skill, each fold of starched linen precisely rendered. The face emerges warmly from the cool whites and blacks of the costume, modeled with the subtle tonal transitions that became Van Dyck's signature.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the elaborate ruff — each fold and texture is rendered with painstaking precision, the brushwork almost invisible in its refinement.
Provenance
Pierre Crozat [1665-1740], Paris; by inheritance to his nephews, first to Louis-François Crozat, marquis du Châtel [1691-1750], Paris, and then [on Louis-François' death without a male heir] to Louis-Antoine Crozat, baron de Thiers [1699-1770], Paris; the latter's heirs; purchased 1772, through Denis Diderot [1713-1784] as an intermediary, by Catherine II, empress of Russia [1729-1796], for the Imperial Hermitage Gallery, Saint Petersburg; purchased between June 1930 and April 1931 through (Matthiesen Gallery, Berlin; P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London; and M. Knoedler & Co., New York) by Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; his estate; deeded 8 March 1938 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[1] gift 1940 to NGA. [1] The dates of the Mellon purchase and deed to Trust are according to Mellon collection files in NGA curatorial records and David Finley's notebook, donated to the National Gallery of Art in 1977, now in the Gallery Archives.
