The Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck, Rubens's most brilliant pupil, streaked across the history of British art like a shooting star. After working (1620–21) at the court of James I, van Dyck returned to London in 1632 at the invitation of Charles I. There, he portrayed the sophisticated and privileged members of the Caroline court in a suitably glamorous manner. His distinctive lace-and-satin costumes and dazzling brushwork set the standard for later British portrait painters. Here, van Dyck sketched the dress and hands of an unidentified female sitter (the finished portrait is in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich) using characteristically agitated, darting strokes. The woman's Flemish costume suggests a date of 1627–32 or 1634–35, when van Dyck was in Antwerp and Brussels, away from the political and religious agitation of the English court.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Study for a Portrait of a Lady
Artist:Anthony van Dyck (Flemish, Antwerp 1599–1641 London)
Date:early 17th century
Medium:Black chalk heightened with white chalk on brown paper
Dimensions:19 7/8 × 11 13/16 in. (50.5 × 30 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971
Accession Number:1972.118.279
Inscription: Recto, lower right, in pen and brown ink: A.V. Dyck. Verso, lower right, in graphite: 1972.118.279
Marking: Recto, lower left, collector's mark of Sir Joshua Reynolds (Lugt 2364) Recto, lower left, collector's mark of Thomas Hudson (Lugt 2432) Recto, lower right center, collector's mark of Prosper Henry Lankrik (Lugt 2090) Recto, lower right, collector's mark of Baron Louis-Auguste de Schwiter (Lugt 1768) Verso, lower left, collector's mark of Pierre Olivier Dubaut (Lugt 2103b) Verso, bottom right, MMA stamp
Prosper Henry Lankrink (British); Jonathan Richardson Sr. (British); Thomas Hudson (British); Sir Joshua Reynolds (British); Louis-Auguste de Schwiter (French); His sale, Paris, April 20–21, 1883, lot 31Commissaire-priseur: Chevaillier
Expert: Féral; Federico de Madrazo y Küntz (Spanish); Pierre-Olivier Dubaut (French); Nathan Chaikin
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Flemish Drawings and Prints," September 19–November 12, 1989.
Kimbell Art Museum. "The Drawings of Anthony van Dyck," June 1, 1991–August 11, 1991.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," January 28–April 21, 2002.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," January 24–April 24, 2005.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," April 29–July 14, 2014.
New York. Frick Collection. "Van Dyck: The Anatomy of Portraiture," March 2–June 5, 2016.
Van Dyck Tentoonstelling Ex. cat. Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, July - August 1949, cat. no. 103.
Horst Vey, Roger-A. d'Hulst Antoon van Dyck: Tekeningen en Olieverfschetsen. Exh. cat.: July 1-August 21. 1960, cat. no. 108, fig. no. LXVI, pp. 142-143.
Horst Vey Die Zeichnungen Anton van Dycks. Brussels, 1962, cat. no. 188, fig. no. 230, p. 259, ill.
Julius S. Held [Review of Horst Vey, "Die Zeichnungen Anton van Dycks", Brussels 1962] Art Bulletin. Art Bulletin, vol. 46, 1964, p. 565.
Jacob Bean Flemish Drawings and Prints of the 17th Century. Exh. cat.: Prints and Drawings Galleries, February 17 through April 15. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1970, P. 4, checklist no.5.
Christopher Brown The Drawings of Anthony van Dyck. New York, 1991, cat. no. 78, fig. no. 0, pp. 248-249, ill.
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The Met's collection of drawings and prints—one of the most comprehensive and distinguished of its kind in the world—began with a gift of 670 works from Cornelius Vanderbilt, a Museum trustee, in 1880.
