Anthonius Van Dyck

Sir Anthony van Dyck (Antwerp 1599-1641 London) Portrait of a Cavalier dated and inscribed 'AET.s 57/1634' (upper left) oil on panel 28 5/8 x 21¾ in. (72.5 x 55.3 cm.) Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild (1836-1905), Vienna, and by descent to his nephew Baron Alphonse de Rothschild (1878-1942), Vienna and Paris. Confiscated during German occupation; recovered in May, 1945 from a salt mine in the Loser Plateau in Austria and returned to the Rothschild heirs. with Newhouse Galleries, Inc., New York. Kimbell Bequest, 1959. Kimbell Art Foundation, Fort Worth, Texas; Sotheby's, New York, 2 June 1989, lot 94 ($374,000). Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, New York, 28 January 2000, lot 57 ($442,500), where acquired by the present owner. PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION "A plan for loot...How Hitler intended to dispose of the 'purchased' Rothschild collection", Illustrated London News, 207, no. 5542, 7 July 1945, pp. 24-25, illustrated. Kimbell Art Museum: Catalogue of the Collection, Fort Worth, 1972, pp. 66-67, illustrated. E. Larsen, L'opera completa di Van Dyck, Milan, 1980, p. 110-111, no. 790, fig. 790. Kimbell Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection, Fort Worth, 1981, p. 79, illustrated. E. Larsen, The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck, Frerem, 1988, II, p. 374, no. 954, illustrated. Simple yet refined, this portrait of a cavalier displays Van Dyck's skill in portraying Europe's elite in the 1630s. The composition, a half-length depiction of a man in black with a white collar, contains only a few basic elements, yet Van Dyck has nevertheless captured the sitter's effortless poise. He turns his face slightly to the left, his curly hair in fetching disarray. With a relaxed gloved hand on the hilt of his sword he exudes a nonchalant air of confidence. Van Dyck had perfected this form in the decade before, during his time in Italy, in portraits like that of Lucas van Uffel now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. no. 14.40.619), in which the sitter has the same ruffled hair, angled visage and elongated fingers. Van Dyck had extensive experience as a portraitist for Europe's ruling class by the time he produced this picture. Having trained with Peter Paul Rubens, he had moved to work for James I of England by 1620. He traveled extensively, visiting Italy before returning to Antwerp to serve as court painter to Archduchess Isabella; in 1632 he resided in England, where he was knighted by Charles I. The present portrait is dated 1634, at which point Van Dyck was living in the Netherlands. He returned, however, to London the following year; thus, this work could have been created in either locale. Erik Larsen speculates that Van Dyck painted the present portrait after his return to England (Larsen 1988, op. cit., p. 374). In comparing it to other portraits from this period, the brushwork bears a resemblance to the full-length portrait of Philippe Le Roy of 1630 in the Wallace Collection, London (inv. P94), similarly inscribed with the age of the sitter and date. This work was in the collection of Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild in Vienna and passed through the family by descent. It may have hung in Schillersdorf castle, the Rothschild residence in Silesia, as it bore a label and inventory number of this castle along with the family coat of arms (Kimbell, 1972, op. cit., p. 67). During World War II, it was seized by National Socialists. Recovered from a salt mine near the Loser Plateau, Austria in 1945, it was returned to the family. In 1959, the painting entered the collection of the Kimbell Art Foundation in Fort Worth, Texas. In a letter dated 14 December 1971, Michael Jaffé confirmed the attribution to Van Dyck (see Kimbell, 1972, op. cit., p. 66).

Sir Anthony van Dyck (Antwerp 1599-1641 London) Portrait of a lady, three-quarter-length, in a black mantle, rust-coloured silk skirt and a lace ruff, with coral beads around her neck oil on canvas, the corners made up 39½ x 29½ in. (100.4 x 74.9 cm.) (Possibly) Marchesa Lomellini Durazzo, Genoa. with Luigi Grassi, Florence (1858-1940). Marcus Kappel (d. 1931), Berlin, by 1909. Ernest G. Rathenau, New York, and by descent to Ellen Ettlinger (née Rathenau), Oxford. with Knoedler & Co., New York. Norton Simon Foundation, Los Angeles; Sotheby's, London, 11 July 1973, lot 20 (£180,000). with Brod Gallery, London. THE PROPERTY OF A LADY E. Schaeffer, Van Dyck: Des Meisters Gemälde, Klassiker der Kunst, Stuttgart and Leipzig, 1909, p. 183. D. von Hadeln, 'Die Portätausstellung des Kaiser Friedrich-Museums-Vereins', Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst, 1909, XX, p. 297, fig. 3. W. Bode, Die Gemäldesammlung Marcus Kappel in Berlin, Berlin, 1914, no. 38, illustrated. G. Glück, Van Dyck: Des Meisters Gemälde, Klassiker der Kunst, London, 1931, p. 165. O. Millar, 'Van Dyck a Genova', The Burlington Magazine, XCVII, 1955, p. 314. D. Steadman, 'The Norton Simon Exhibition at Princeton', Art Journal, XXXII, Autumn 1972, no. 1, pp. 35-6, fig. 5. S.J. Barnes, Van Dyck in Italy, Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1986, no. 62. E. Larsen, The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck, Freren, 1988, II, p. 148, no. 364. S.J. Barnes et al., Van Dyck, A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven and London, 2003, p. 231, no. II.107. Berlin, Kaiser Friedrich-Museums-Verein, Ausstellung von Bildnissen des fünfzehnten bis achtzehnten Jahrhunderts: Aus dem Privatbesitz der Mitglieder des Vereins, 31 March-30 April 1909, no. 30. Genoa, Palazzo dell'Accademia, Cento Opere di Van Dyck, June-August 1955, no. 18. Princeton, Princeton University Art Museum, Northern 17th-century Painting. Selections from the Norton Simon, Inc., Museum of Art, 1972, no. 7. This arresting portrait is thought to have been executed by van Dyck in the early 1620s, the decade in which he established his position as one of the most celebrated and sought-after portrait painters of his day. Painted when the artist was working independently, without a studio, van Dyck's bravura handling and full range of painterly effects are beautifully exhibited. The bold application of dragged paint in the sitter's sleeves and skirt is allied with the sensitively observed rendering of her features; the blue watery eyes and pallid skin contrast with the dimly lit background. Looking directly at the viewer, the young woman lifts her mantle to reveal a bright rust skirt; a gesture that would suggest she is pregnant. In what is otherwise a restrained palette, the prominent use of red pigment, in the treatment of her coral necklace and headdress, could also be a reference to her pregnant state. As Barnes has observed ( op. cit., pp. 189-90), the unusual employment of the colour for the cuffs of the richly embroidered dresses worn by Elena Grimaldi (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, Widener Collection) and the unidentified Genoese noblewoman, previously thought to be Geronima Doria (Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin), may well be an allusion to their pregnancy. This portrait has long been thought to date from van Dyck's years in Italy, a period in which the artist would 'set a new standard for portraiture in the seventeenth century' (Barnes, op. cit., p. 148). The sitter has been traditionally identified as the Marchesa Lomellini-Durazzo, a noblewoman from the important Genoese family who sat for van Dyck's most ambitious and celebrated group portrait from his years in the Ligurian Republic: The Lomellini Family (Edinburgh, National Galleries of Scotland). More recently, some scholars, including Piero Boccardo, have suggested that the work may have been executed in Antwerp, prior to van Dyck's departure for Italy. Arriving in Genoa on the 20 November 1621, van Dyck joined the flourishing community of Flemish painters that was led by the nephews of Jan Brueghel the Elder, Lucas and Cornelis de Wael, the sitters for the artist's first double portrait of siblings or close friends (1627; Rome, Pinacoteca Capitolina), a genre that he would later perfect in England. Genoa was a city at the apogee of its power and at the centre of European finance, with its ruling classes and 'New Nobility' providing a rich source of patronage for the young artist. It was here that he encountered Rubens' striking and imaginative portraits, painted twenty years earlier, and van Dyck was determined to surpass his countryman's mastery of the genre. During his years in Italy, a period in which the artist travelled extensively, working in Venice, Rome and Sicily, van Dyck was able to deepen his appreciation of Titian, the artist whom he had greatly admired when working in Rubens' studio. His passion for the Venetian painter emerges from his Sketchbook, now in the British Museum, which contains numerous copies made of Titian's portraits, including that of Ranuccio Farnese (Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, Samuel H. Kress Collection) and Pope Paul III with his Grandsons Alessandro and Ottavio Farnese (Naples, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte).

ANTHONY VAN DYCK Erasmus of Rotterdam. Etching and drypoint, circa 1630. 243x157 mm; 9 5/8x6 1/8 inches, wide margins. Mauquoy/Hendrickx's third state (of 5). Foolscap with a 7-pointed collar watermark (Mauquoy/Hendrickx 36-38). A superb, richly-inked, early impression with strong contrasts, the lines on the right sleeve bold and all the delicate scratches and fine lines distinct. Hollstein 5; Mauquoy/Hendrickx 5. Estimate $3,000-5,000

Sir Anthony van Dyck (Antwerpen 1599–1641 London) Werkstatt Mary, Duchess of Lennox and Richmond (1622– 1685) mit ihrer kleinwüchsigen Zofe Anne Shepherd, beschriftet und bezeichnet unten links: Mary duchess of Richmond daughter of Duke of Buckingham Vandyck pinx. Inv. No. 49.17.2, Öl auf Leinwand, 207,5 x 120 cm, gerahmt Provenienz: Coll. James Stuart, Duke of Lennox; Coll. Rudolph Feilding, 9th Earl of Denbigh, 8th Earl of Desmond, Newnham Paddox/ Warwickshire; The William Randolph Hearst Collection, San Francisco (ca. 1945); The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles (Inv. No. 947, ca. 1950); Privatsammlung, Tokio (1965); Sammlung Thorsten und Diana Kreuger, Genf (1975–1998). Literatur: E. Schäffer, Van Dyck - Des Meisters Gemälde, Stuttgart und Leipzig 1909, S. 364 (als van Dyck); L. Cust, Anthony van Dyck, 1910, p. 278, no. 127; G. Glück, Van Dyck - Des Meisters Gemälde, Stuttgart - New York - London 1931, p. 477 (als van Dyck); W. R. Valentiner, Van Dyck’’’’s Portrait of Mary Villiers, in: Bulletin of the Art Division, Los Angeles County Museum, Fall 1949, pp. 1315; Catalogue of Paintings II, Los Angeles County Museum, 1954, p. 25, pl. 20 (als van Dyck); E. Larsen, L’’’’Opera Completa di Van Dyck, Milano 1980, No. 947, Tav. LXII; E. Larsen, The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck, Freren 1988, vol. I, p. 379, ill. 423, vol. II, p. 382-83, Cat. No. 974 (als van Dyck); S. Barnes, N. de Porter, O. Millar, H. Vey, Van Dyck, A complete Catalogue of the Paintings, Yale 2003, p. 590, bei No. IV. 206 (als „version of the painting in the collection of the Duke of Marlborough, Blenheim Palace“). Lady Mary Villiers, Tochter des 1. Herzogs von Buckingham, wuchs als Mündel des Earl of Pembroke in Wilton auf. In erster Ehe heiratete sie 1634 seinen ältesten Sohn Charles, Lord Herbert. 1637 vermählte sie sich mit James Stuart, dem 4. Herzog von Lennox und 1. Herzog von Richmond, einem Cousin des Königs. In dritter Ehe heiratete die verwitwete Herzogin, die ‘Lady of the Bedchamber’’’’ der Königin Catharina von Braganza war, Colonel Thomas Howard aus dem Haus der Herzöge von Norfolk. Neben der Herzogin steht die kleinwüchsige Anne Shepherd, die ihr auf einem silbernen Teller Handschuhe reicht. Der König vermählte sie mit dem ebenfalls kleinwüchsigen Richard Gibson, der ein talentierter Miniaturenmaler war und in den 1630er Jahren in Diensten des 4. Earl of Pembroke, des ersten Schwiegervaters von Lady Mary, stand. Der Ehe des Paares entsprossen einige Kinder von normaler Größe.

H. Stone (19th Century British) after Van Dyck (1599-1641) - Oil painting - Triple shoulder length portrait of Charles I in differing poses, canvas, 36ins x 45ins, unsigned but inscribed in the artist's hand to label on stretcher, in modern gilt moulded frame of 17th Century design, decorated with scrolling leafage