Anthony van Dyck

Sir Anthony van Dyck (/vænˈdaɪk/; Dutch: Antoon van Dyck [ˈɑntoːɱ‿vɑn ˈdɛik]; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy.

The seventh child of Frans van Dyck, a wealthy silk merchant in Antwerp, Anthony painted from an early age. He was successful as an independent painter in his late teens and became a master in the Antwerp Guild on 18 October 1617. By this time, he was working in the studio of the leading northern painter of the day, Peter Paul Rubens, who became a major influence on his work.

Van Dyck worked in London for some months in 1621, then returned to Flanders for a brief time, before travelling to Italy, where he stayed until 1627, mostly in Genoa. In the late 1620s he completed his greatly admired Iconography series of portrait etchings of mainly other artists and other famous contemporaries. He spent five years in Flanders after his return from Italy, and from 1630 was court painter for the Archduchess Isabella, Habsburg Governor of Flanders. At the request of Charles I of England he returned in 1632 to London as the main court painter.

With the exception of Holbein, van Dyck and his contemporary Diego Velázquez were the first painters of pre-eminent talent to work mainly as court portraitists, revolutionising the genre. Van Dyck is best known for his portraits of the aristocracy, most notably Charles I, and his family and associates. He was the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for over 150 years. He also painted mythological, allegorical and biblical subjects, including altarpieces, displayed outstanding facility as a draughtsman, and was an important innovator in watercolour and etching.

His influence extends into the modern period. The Van Dyke beard is named after him. During his lifetime, Charles I granted him a knighthood, and he was buried in St Paul's Cathedral, an indication of his standing at the time of his death.

Anthony van Dyck was born in Antwerp on 22 March 1599 as the seventh of 12 children of his parents. He was baptized the next day in the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (now the Antwerp Cathedral) His father was Frans van Dyck, a well-to-do silk merchant. His mother was Maria Cupers (or Cuypers), daughter of Dirk Cupers (or Cuypers) and Catharina Conincx and the second wife of Anthony's father. He was baptised on 23 March 1599 (as Anthonio). His parental grandfather, also called Anthoni, had commenced his career as a painter and had been registered in 1556 as a master painter at the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke as a pupil of Jan Ghendrick, alias van Cleve. The elder brother of his grandfather was also admitted as master painter in the Guild and had studied with Geert Ghendrick., He had later become a successful merchant in silk and small writing articles. He had bought the birth house of Anthony called Den Berendans (The Bear Dance) on the Grote Markt in Antwerp (Main Square) in 1579. On Anthony's mother's side there were also a few artists who were Guild members.

After his birth his family moved to a house called the Kasteel van Rijssel (Castle of Lille) in the Korte Nieuwstraat. His mother died when he was only 8 years old. At the time the family was living in a more luxurious house in the Korte Nieuwstraat called the Stadt van Ghent (City of Ghent). His artistic talent was evident very early. When he was 10 years old, he started his formal training as a painter with Hendrick van Balen the Elder. Van Balen was a successful painter of small cabinet paintings who had multiple pupils. It is not known how long he studied with van Balen, and estimates vary from two to four years. While it was common for apprentices to stay on in their master's workshop until they were formally registered as a master in the local guild, van Dyck is believed to have left his master's workshop in 1615 or 1616 to set up his independent workshop before he became a master. The reason was that in that period his father was experiencing financial difficulties and could use any assistance he could get. It was during the period van Dyck may have started painting the series of panels of Christ and the Apostles in bust-length, although it is also possible that this only happened after his first return from Italy in 1620–21.

By the age of fifteen he was already a highly accomplished artist, as shown by his Self-portrait dated 1613–14. He was admitted to the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke as a free master on Saint Luke's day, 18 October 1617.