Sir Antoine Van DYCK (Antwerp 1599 - 1641 London)
Circa. 1618-1619
Portrait of a gentleman
Oil on canvas, 121.2 x 93.2 cm
PROVENANCE
Marie-Caroline Gansacker (1686 - 1732), married to Jean-Francois Xavier Lunden (1680 - 1747), great grandson of Rubens;
By descent to Hélène du Mont bed of Brailmont (1688 - 1753);
By descent to Isabelle de la Bistrate (1717 - 1787);
By descent to Hélène Strier (1746 - 1807), married to Jean-Francois de Vinck de Wuestwezel;
Catherine de Vinck de Wuestwezel (1755 - 1828), wife of Charles-Jean de Bosschaert (1759 - 1828);
Charlotte-Emile-Axeline-Catherine de Bosschaert (1872 -1960) married to Pierre-H.-M.-Amédée de Caters, Baron de Caters (1875-1944);
Renée-Jeanne-Emilie-Mathilde-M. de Caters (1904 - 2001) married to Count Paul-M.-J.-Ch.-Fr.-Xavier (1901 - 1985);
By descent and sold by the family, Sotheby's, Amsterdam, October 30, 2007, Lot 29, as 'follower of Sir Anthony Van Dyck';
Galerie Barnabe, Paris 2017;
Private collection, France.
We are in the presence of a portrait of Van Dyck from the first Antwerp period, executed with virtuosity around 1618/1619. The work displays all the aesthetic qualities of the artist's youth, the pictorial style corresponding to a composition formula that he will have used on several occasions; a chair, sometimes a hat, but above all the large black cape that animates the composition. The paintings executed in this spirit are typical of paintings formerly attributed to the work of Rubens and re-attributed to Van Dyck by Bode.
Sir Antoine Van DYCK (Antwerp 1599 - 1641 London), workshop of
Circa. 1636
Portrait of Frances, Countess, then Marquise of Hetford and Duchess of Somerset
Oil on canvas, 121 x 98 cm.
PROVENANCE
Private collection south germany for several generations and until May 2011;
Barnabé Gallery until 2014
Van Dyck's main and most accomplished autograph version, that of the former property of the Duke of Northumberland, painted to the best of the artist's career in London, is an example of poise, sobriety and refinement.
Several variations of this composition with some differences are known; three versions probably from workshop at Plas Newydd, Helmingham Hall and Badminton House. One last considered as a copy is kept at the National Trust. In the catalog raisonné "Barnes, De Poorter, Millar and Vey, 2004" another variant is reported on the continent, the latter which could correspond to our version.
Our painting of remarkable quality, painted in a less free manner than that of Van Dyck, seems to come from the hand of his best pupil in the studio in London, that of Adriaen Hanneman. Many stylistic comparisons are encouraging in this direction, only at the sight of the veins of the hands of the Duchess of Somerset very visible, as well as the curls of the hair and especially the brown drapes of the right sleeve of Lady Somerset, all elements which are to be compared with the manner practiced by Hanneman, with for example this portrait signed Hanneman sold at Sotheby's on April 27, 2006, whose brown drapes correspond in all respects to ours.
Adriaen Hanneman's visit to van Dyck's studio in London is uniformly felt in the atmosphere of this portrait which we accordingly attribute to the studio.
Sir Antoine Van DYCK (Antwerp 1599 - 1641 London), workshop of
Circa. 1630
Portrait of Marie de Medici
Oil on canvas, 114 x 94.4 cm
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Saumur, for several generations and until April 2009.
This portrait is a reduced version of the full-length portrait by Van Dyck, canvas, 225 x 140 cm, kept at the Musée des Beaux Arts in Bordeaux *.
On the other hand, Paulus Pontius engraved a variant of the portrait of Bordeaux: we only see the hand with the roses, in the background also a “fleur-de-lys” curtain and on a table the crown of France in the open air, in the background the sky. Professor Horst Vey thought: “… that the engraving was probably made from a reduced version like that of Longford Castle (Schaeffer 1909, p.451; Larsen 1988, n ° A96 / 2), to which it corresponds more closely ”. It cannot be ruled out that our version, which seems to have been executed with more care than the version from Longford Castle, may also be the model for the engraving by Paulus Pontius.
Moreover, we know that during a visit to Antwerp by Queen Marie de Médicis, Van Dyck produced the full-length portrait today in Bordeaux and the historiographer of Marie had written: “Art no 'has never been able to present Her Majesty to us on his throne as well as in the new portrait he has painted of her ”, which confirms that Van Dyck had already made other versions of sketches.
Our version is probably one of the replicas from the artist's studio.
* Antoine van Dyck, Portrait of Marie de Médicis, Canvas, 225 x 140 cm, Museum of Fine Arts in Bordeaux; Barnes, De Porter, Millar and Vey, Van Dyck, A complete catalog of the paintings, Yale University press 2004, III.105, page 332.