Anthony van Dyck: The Making of a Master

How religious paintings influenced portraiture

Anthony van Dyck’s early focus on religious subjects informed his later innovations in portait painting. "Samson and Delilah," 1628–1630, by Anthony van Dyck. Oil on canvas. Museum of Fine Arts, Vienna. Public Domain

For both art and history lovers, the name of Anthony van Dyck and the royal court of England’s King Charles I are inseparable. Few artists have historically influenced the popular image of a particular era as much as van Dyck. While it is taken for granted that the relationship between artist and king is a small part of van Dyck’s story, his varied career and broader artistic significance is too often overlooked.

Self-portrait of Sir Anthony van Dyck, circa 1640. Oil on canvas. National Portrait Gallery, London. Public Domain

Nearly 24 years separated van Dyck’s 1618 admission to Antwerp’s Guild of Saint Luke as a “free master” (an artist legally entitled to run his own studio) and his premature death at the age of 42. Much of his final decade was indeed spent in England. Prior to 1632, he made a single, four-month visit to the country. During the intervening years, he became one of the greatest religious artists of his day and a leading portraitist while working in Italy and the Netherlands.

Van Dyck’s early focus on religious subjects is perhaps the most forgotten aspect of his career. Today, his best-known, early works are those foreshadowing his later specialization: portraits. When he began his career, the only major artist to have specialized in portraiture was Hans Holbein the Younger. As a young artist, van Dyck would have been expected to follow the more common precedents emphasizing religious, historical, mythological, and allegorical subject matter.

Building a Stylistic Vocabulary

Van Dyck’s early religious paintings conform closely to the examples of Hendrick van Balen the Elder (under whom he served his apprenticeship) and Peter Paul Rubens (for whom he briefly worked as chief assistant). Hence, his early paintings, such as “The Crowning With Thorns,” lack the originality seen in his later art. Comparing his “Portrait of Cornelius van der Geest” (circa 1620) to his later “Portrait of Inigo Jones” reveals just how rapidly he developed both his superlative skill and key elements of his signature style.

Early Flemish portraits were commonly painted against a dark backdrop and limited to the sitter’s upper body. Although in van Dyck’s “Portrait of Inigo Jones,” we still see just the subject’s upper body presented, we see his stylistic choice of embellishing a neutral backdrop with a geometric design, giving more dimensionality and some context to a portrait.

Portraits of Cornelis van der Geest (circa 1620, L) and Inigo Jones (early to mid-17th-century) by Anthony van Dyck. Both are housed at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Public Domain

Once van Dyck was able to access and study from the works of great masters, he quickly developed a more personal style of religious painting. As leaders of the new Flemish Baroque school, van Balen and Rubens had given van Dyck a firm foundation in the traditions of both the Flemish and the Italian Renaissance. The influence of Italian art was indirect, however, as both van Balen and Rubens were Flemish painters who had formerly lived and only studied in Italy for a short period of time. Northern European collectors were just beginning to import Italian masterpieces on a significant scale during van Dyck’s early years. Few were to be found in the Netherlands.

Fortunately for van Dyck, one of the first such collectors was Thomas Howard, England’s 14th Earl of Arundel, who was closely attuned to artistic life across the English Channel. His collection of over 700 works included dozens of pieces by Italian masters such as Correggio, Giorgione, Tintoretto, Titian, and Veronese. Since the frescoes of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael could not be moved, Arundel collected their preparatory drawings.

Arundel was instrumental in arranging one of van Dyck’s first major commissions—a portrait of King James I. During that brief 1620 visit to England, van Dyck studied Arundel’s collection and soon made plans to visit Italy the following year. He remained in Italy until 1627.

Developing His Personal Style

"Marchesa Elena Grimaldi Cattaneo," 1623, by Anthony van Dyck. Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Public Domain

Once in Italy, he steadily matured. Works like “Saint Sebastian Bound for Martyrdom” and “Virgin and Child with Repentant Sinners” manifest the unambiguous development of his personal style. Such works still retain the grandeur and monumentality of Rubens. However, van Dyck began to minimize the numbers of figures and replaced Ruben’s use of ethereal haze for more clarity in his early portraits.

Van Dyck never entirely conformed to the traditions of the early portrait painters. During his time in Italy, he began to paint full-length portraits against natural backdrops, as in his piece titled “Marchesa Elena Grimaldi Cattaneo.” Interestingly enough, both full-length depictions and natural backdrops were quite standard in religious works—suggesting that van Dyck’s experience in depicting such subjects influenced the development of his portraiture style.

A Renowned Portrait Painter

"Charles I (1600–1649) With M. de St Antoine," 1633, by Anthony van Dyck. Oil on canvas. Royal Collection at Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England. Public Domain

In contrast to his stylistic development, van Dyck’s transition from a religious painter to a specialist in portraiture was more gradual. Although largely focused on religious paintings while in Italy, he was commissioned to paint portraits for the aristocracy of Genoa, which made up an increasingly significant proportion of his work. Ironically enough, that combination probably aided van Dyck’s transition. By the time he returned to Antwerp in 1627, he had decided to shift his focus and began marketing himself to the affluent merchant class. Yet the greatest assurance of regular work as a portraitist was employment by a royal court.

Circumstances again favored van Dyck. The ruler of the Netherlands, Archduchess Isabella von Habsburg, was an enthusiastic patroness of the arts and also religiously devout. Van Dyck’s body of work made him perfectly suited to be one of her court’s artists. And it was from that base in the Netherlands that van Dyck increasingly worked for the royal families of surrounding nations. Eventually, he was asked to become a court artist for Charles I.

It was only after his relatively late move to England that van Dyck reached his final stage of stylistic development, with portraits of daily life set against extensive naturalistic backdrops. This became the pinnacle of his career. The foundation for that style was built from the narrative  masterpieces he had painted over the years and his previous level of success, in some of Europe’s most demanding artistic milieus, demonstrates just how high that pinnacle was.