In 1641 the fourth Duke of Lennox was created first Duke of Richmond by his cousin, Charles I, King of England. Four years earlier he had married Mary Villiers, daughter of the king’s favorite, the Duke of Buckingham. Van Dyck probably painted this majestic portrait shortly after Stuart’s investiture into the Order of the Garter, in November 1633. The silver star, the "Lesser George" medal on a green ribbon, and the garter itself (below the left knee) are the order’s insignia. The greyhound suggests nobility (by alluding to their hunting privileges) and perhaps the virtue of fidelity.

James Stuart was a loyal supporter of his cousin Charles I and served in high posts at court, such as Gentleman of the Bedchamber and Lord Steward of the Household. He was installed as Knight of the Garter on November 6, 1633, and in 1641 was created Duke of Richmond. When he married the Duke of Buckingham’s daughter, Mary Villiers, in 1637, the king gave the bride away. During the 1640s Stuart contributed large sums to the royal cause in the Civil War; both his younger brothers (the subjects of Van Dyck’s superb full-length double portrait, of 1638, in the National Gallery, London), the Lords John and Bernard, died fighting for the king, in 1644 and 1645.

This portrait is one of the most brilliantly painted of Van Dyck’s English portraits, and probably dates from late 1633 or early 1634. The Order of the Garter’s insignia are conspicuously displayed: the silver star on the mantle; the red and gold Jewel, or lesser George, suspended from the broad green ribbon on the chest; and the garter, visible below the bow at Stuart’s left knee and set off by the pale green silk stocking. The greyhound is a familiar symbol of nobility and of loyalty, but it rarely conveys these virtues so naturally as here, nor could the graceful dog’s pose and place in the composition serve the focus on the subject more effectively. In 1631 Van Dyck included a dog differently posed, but to similar effect, in his portrait of the Antwerp merchant Jacques Le Roy (Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid), and a greyhound stares at Richmond in the broad portrait of him seated, of about 1636, at Kenwood House, London. Ultimately these and other dogs in Van Dyck portraits, but especially this one, recall Titian’s Charles V with a Hound, of about 1533 (Museo del Prado, Madrid), which was then in Charles I’s collection.

The portrait was one of thirty-seven European paintings given to the Museum in 1889 by Henry Marquand, who became the institution’s second president in that year.

[2012]

Sir Paul Methuen, London (by 1728–d. 1757); his cousin, Paul Methuen, Corsham Court, Chippenham, Wiltshire (1757–d. 1795); his son, Paul Cobb Methuen, Corsham Court (1795–d. 1816; cat., 1806, p. 55, no. 174); his son, Paul Methuen, 1st Baron Methuen of Corsham, Corsham Court (1816–d. 1849); Frederick Henry Paul Methuen, 2nd Baron Methuen, Corsham Court (1849–86); Henry G. Marquand, New York (1886–89)

London. British Institution. May 1835, no. 15 (lent by Paul Methuen).

London. British Institution. June 1857, no. 1 (lent by Lord Methuen).

London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Winter Exhibition," 1877, no. 138 (lent by Lord Methuen).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Exhibition of 1888–89," 1888–89, no. 18.

Paris. Musée de l'Orangerie. "Rubens et son temps," 1936, no. 29.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art Treasures of the Metropolitan," November 7, 1952–September 7, 1953, no. 112.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Masterpieces of Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 16–November 1, 1970, unnumbered cat. (p. 40).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries," November 15, 1970–February 15, 1971, not in catalogue.

Washington. National Gallery of Art. "Anthony van Dyck," November 11, 1990–February 24, 1991, no. 66.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "The Age of Rubens," September 22, 1993–January 2, 1994, no. 41.

Toledo Museum of Art. "The Age of Rubens," February 2–April 24, 1994, no. 41.

Antwerp. Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. "Van Dyck 1599–1641," May 15–August 15, 1999, no. 71.

London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Van Dyck 1599–1641," September 11–December 10, 1999, no. 71.

London. Tate Britain. "Van Dyck & Britain," February 18–May 17, 2009, no. 31 (as "James Stuart, 4th Duke of Lennox, later Duke of Richmond").

Horace Walpole. Catalogues of the Collections of Pictures of The Duke of Devonshire, General Guise, and the Late Sir Paul Methuen. Strawberry Hill, 1760, p. 30.

[Thomas Martyn]. The English Connoisseur: Containing an Account of Whatever is Curious in Painting, Sculpture, &c. in the Palaces and Seats of the Nobility and Principal Gentry of England, Both in Town and Country. London, 1766, vol. 2, p. 20.

John Britton. The Beauties of Wiltshire, displayed in Statistical, Historical, and Descriptive Sketches. 2, London, 1801, p. 291.

John Britton. An Historical Account of Corsham House, in Wiltshire. London, 1806, p. 55, no. 174.

John Smith. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters. 3, London, 1831, p. 172, no. 594.

M. Passavant. Tour of a German Artist in England. London, 1836, vol. 2, p. 88.

G[ustav]. F[riedrich]. Waagen. "Kunstwerke und Künstler in England." Kunstwerke und Künstler in England und Paris. 2, Berlin, 1838, p. 317.

G[ustav]. F[riedrich]. Waagen. Works of Art and Artists in England. London, 1838, vol. 3, p. 107.

Georg Rathgeber. Annalen der Niederländischen Malerei, Formschneide und Kupferstecherkunst. Gotha, 1844, part 4, col. 104.

[Gustav Friedrich] Waagen. Galleries and Cabinets of Art in Great Britain. London, 1857, p. 396.

Percy Rendell Head. Van Dyck. London, 1879, p. 79.

Jules Guiffrey. Antoine van Dyck, sa vie et son oeuvre. Paris, 1882, p. 275, no. 788.

Claude Phillips. "Correspondance d'Angleterre." Gazette des beaux-arts, 2nd ser., 35 (1887), p. 257.

W. Bode. "Alte Kunstwerke in den Sammlungen der Vereinigten Staaten." Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst, n.s., 6, no. 1 (1895), p. 17.

Lionel Cust. Anthony van Dyck, An Historical Study of His Life and Works. London, 1900, pp. 117–18, 173, 278.

Pol de Mont. Antoine van Dyck. Haarlem, 1902, unpaginated [see Ref. Liedtke 1984].

Lionel Cust. Anthony van Dyck. part 2, London, 1903, p. 23 [see Ref. Liedtke 1984].

Hugh Stokes. Sir Anthony van Dyck. London, [1905], p. xlvii.

The Vasari Society for the Reproduction of Drawings by Old Masters. 1st ser., part 2, Oxford, 1906–7, p. 16, under no. 26.

Emil Schaeffer. Van Dyck, des Meisters Gemälde. 1st ed. Stuttgart, 1909, p. 514, ill. p. 371 [2nd ed. by Gustav Glück, 1931, pp. XLIV, 564–65, ill. p. 411] .

Wilhelm R. Valentiner. "Frühwerke des Anton van Dyck in Amerika." Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst, n.s., 21, no. 9 (1910), p. 230.

Freeman O'Donoghue. Catalogue of Engraved British Portraits Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum. 3, London, 1912, p. 577.

Wilhelm R. Valentiner. The Art of the Low Countries. English ed. Garden City, N.Y., 1914, pp. 214–15, ill. opp. p. 216.

Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Aus der Niederländischen Kunst. Berlin, 1914, p. 112 [see Ref. Liedtke 1984], describes it as from the high point of the English period, and notes the study of the pose, in the drawing in the British Museum.

Wilhelm von Bode. Die Meister der holländischen und vlämischen Malerschulen. 2nd ed. Leipzig, 1919, ill. p. 363.

R[udolf]. Oldenbourg. Die Flämische Malerei des XVII. Jahrhunderts. Berlin, 1922, p. 75.

Arthur M. Hind. Catalogue of Drawings by Dutch and Flemish Artists Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum. 2, London, 1923, p. 67, under no. 54.

Lionel Cust. "Anthonis van Dyck." Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers. 2, rev., enl. ed. London, 1926, p. 112, locates the picture at Marquand College, New York.

Gustav Glück. Van Dyck, des Meisters Gemälde. 2nd ed. [1st ed. 1909]. Stuttgart, 1931, pp. XLIV, 564–65, ill. p. 411 [1st ed. by Emil Schaeffer, 1909, p. 514, ill. p. 371].

Charles Sterling. Rubens et son temps. Exh. cat., Musée de l'Orangerie. [Paris], 1936, pp. 55–56, no. 29, pl. XIII.

Alfred Leroy. Histoire de la peinture anglaise. Paris, [1939], p. 90.

Regina Shoolman, and Charles E. Slatkin. The Enjoyment of Art in America. Philadelphia, 1942, p. 403.

Aline B. Louchheim. "Five Thousand Years of Art." Art News Annual (1945–46), p. 71, ill.

Millia Davenport. The Book of Costume. New York, 1948, vol. 2, p. 574, no. 1512, ill. p. 575.

Van Dyck. Monaco, [1949], p. 101, pl. 57, dates it about 1633.

A. Hyatt Mayor. "Change and Permanence in Men's Clothes." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 8 (May 1950), ill. p. 266.

Leo van Puyvelde. Van Dyck. Brussels, 1950, pp. 69, 88, 185.

Theodore Rousseau Jr. "A Guide to the Picture Galleries." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 12, part 2 (January 1954), p. 4, ill. p. 31.

Oliver Millar. "Van Dyck at Genoa." Burlington Magazine 97 (October 1955), p. 314.

Roger-A. d'Hulst and Horst Vey. Antoon van Dyck, Tekeningen en olieverfschetsen. Exh. cat., Rubenshuis. [Antwerp?], [1960?], pp. 133–34, under no. 96, dates it early in the English period.

Horst Vey. Die Zeichnungen Anton van Dycks. Brussels, 1962, text vol., p. 288, under nos. 214 and 215, dates it 1632–34.

L[eo]. v. P[uyvelde]. Le siècle de Rubens. Exh. cat., Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. Brussels, 1965, p. 67, under no. 67, pp. 303–4, under no. 326.

Calvin Tomkins. Merchants and Masterpieces: The Story of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1970, pp. 74, 360 [rev., enl. ed., 1989, pp. 74, 393].

Letters of Roger Fry. New York, 1972, vol. 1, p. 255 n. 1.

Robin Gibson. Catalogue of Portraits in the Collection of the Earl of Clarendon. n.p., 1978, p. 109, under no. 120.

Howard Hibbard. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1980, pp. 13, 20, 313, fig. 25 (color).

Erik Larsen. L'opera completa di Van Dyck. Milan, 1980, vol. 2, p. 115, no. 832, ill. p. 115 and colorpl. 50, dates it about 1635–36.

Christopher Brown. Van Dyck. Ithaca, N.Y., 1982, pp. 191–92, colorpl. 192.

Julius S. Held. "Rubens and Titian." Titian, His World and His Legacy. New York, 1982, p. 334, fig. 7.44 , compares it with Titian's "Charles V with a Hound".

Oliver Millar. Van Dyck in England. Exh. cat., National Portrait Gallery. London, 1982, p. 91, under no. 48, dates it slightly later than the Kenwood portrait of the duke.

Walter A. Liedtke. Flemish Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1984, vol. 1, pp. 50–54; vol. 2, colorpl. V, pls. 23–24 (overall and detail), states that it must have been painted in London shortly before or after Van Dyck's stay in the Netherlands, between early 1634 and early 1635.

Walter A. Liedtke. "Flemish Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum—II: Van Dyck, Jordaens, Brouwer, and Others." Tableau 6 (February 15, 1984), pp. 29, 31, fig. 4 (color).

Walter A. Liedtke. "Anthony van Dyck." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 42 (Winter 1984/85), pp. 9, 24, 34, 37, 41–42, 45–46, figs. 3, 41, 43, and inside back cover (color, overall and details).

John Pope-Hennessy. "Roger Fry and The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Oxford, China, and Italy: Writings in Honour of Sir Harold Acton on his Eightieth Birthday. London, 1984, p. 231.

Erik Larsen. The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck. Freren, Germany, 1988, vol. 1, pp. 329, 331–32, 363, fig. 347; vol. 2, p. 380, no. 968.

Justus Müller Hofstede. "Neue Beiträge Zum Oeuvre Anton van Dycks." Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch 48/49 (1988), p. 178.

Jean L. Druesedow in "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 1989–1990." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 48 (Fall 1990), p. 56.

Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. in Anthony van Dyck. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1990, pp. 259–61, no. 66, ill. (color).

Christopher Brown. The Drawings of Anthony van Dyck. Exh. cat., Pierpont Morgan Library. New York, 1991, pp. 228, 230, fig. 1, under nos. 70 and 71.

Introduction by Walter A. Liedtke in Flemish Paintings in America: A Survey of Early Netherlandish and Flemish Paintings in the Public Collections of North America. Antwerp, 1992, pp. 24, 331, no. 210, ill.

Marjorie E. Wieseman in The Age of Rubens. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 1993, pp. 48, 337–39, no. 41, ill. (color), notes that it was probably painted in 1633 to commemorate Stuart's reception into the Order of the Garter, and certainly before Van Dyck's return to Flanders in 1634; finds that it was based on Titian's "Charles V with Hound" (Museo del Prado, Madrid).

Alfred Moir. Anthony van Dyck. New York, 1994, pp. 34–36, 108, 112, fig. 62.

Malcolm Rogers. "Van Dyck's Portrait of 'Lord George Stuart, Seigneur d'Aubigny,' and Some Related Works." Van Dyck 350. Washington, 1994, pp. 267, 278 n. 11, fig. 6.

Katharine Baetjer. "British Portraits in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 57 (Summer 1999), pp. 14–15, ill. (color).

Judy Egerton in Christopher Brown and Hans Vlieghe. Van Dyck 1599–1641. Exh. cat., Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp. London, 1999, pp. 257–59, 284, 286, 295, 320, no. 71, ill. (color).

Emilie E. S. Gordenker in Velázquez, Rubens y Van Dyck: Pintores cortesanos del siglo XVII. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado. Madrid, [1999], p. 132, fig. 86.

Jo Hedley. Van Dyck at the Wallace Collection. Exh. cat., Wallace Collection. London, 1999, p. 44, fig. 30.

Emilie E. S. Gordenker. Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641) and the Representation of Dress in Seventeenth-century Portraiture. Turnhout, Belgium, 2001, pp. 38, 104 n. 107, p. 119 n. 164, fig. 51.

Fiona Donovan. Rubens and England. New Haven, 2004, pp. 55, 58, fig. 25.

Esmée Quodbach. "The Age of Rembrandt: Dutch Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 65 (Summer 2007), pp. 12, 14, fig. 10 (print of Marquand gallery).

Christopher Breward in Van Dyck & Britain. Exh. cat., Tate Britain. London, 2009, p. 31.

Karen Hearn in Van Dyck & Britain. Exh. cat., Tate Britain. London, 2009, pp. 90, 93, 111, 160–61, 242, no. 31, ill. (color), as "James Stuart, 4th Duke of Lennox, later Duke of Richmond"; dates it about 1633.

Kevin Sharpe in Van Dyck & Britain. Exh. cat., Tate Britain. London, 2009, p. 22.

Susan Sloman in Van Dyck & Britain. Exh. cat., Tate Britain. London, 2009, p. 221.

Sir Joshua Reynolds must have had access to this picture when he was working on his portrait of Sir Richard Peers Symons, Bt. (see sale, Property of a Private Collector, Sotheby's, New York, October 28, 1988, no. 13), as the painting of the hound in Symons's portrait is essentially identical to that in the present work.

A preparatory sketch for the figure of the duke is in the British Museum, as are two more precise studies of the dog on another sheet. Among the known copies and studio versions of the Museum's picture are a copy in the Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and five in the collections of the Earls of Darnley, Craven, Denbigh, Dysart, and Verulam, listed by Lionel Cust (1900).