Anthony van Dyck, 'Portrait of François Langlois', probably early 1630s
About the work
Overview
In this lively, informal portrait, Anthony van Dyck presents to us someone he had known for several years and whose company he clearly enjoyed. François Langlois was an engraver, art dealer and publisher who lived in Italy in the 1620s, which is where he must have met Van Dyck. Langlois was also an accomplished amateur musician. He has dressed up for the picture, playing the part of a savoyard – a wandering shepherd and musician – with his cocked hat, an instrument tucked under his arm and a sparkle in his eyes.
Van Dyck has portrayed his friend with great affection and with none of the flattery he used on the English aristocrats at the court of King Charles I. Langlois is totally at ease, engrossed in the performance that is about to begin. Set against the sky and a rural landscape, he is himself like a breath of fresh air.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Portrait of François Langlois
- Artist
- Anthony van Dyck
- Artist dates
- 1599 - 1641
- Date made
- probably early 1630s
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 97.8 × 80 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought jointly by the National Gallery and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham, with the assistance of the Heritage Lottery Fund, 1997
- Inventory number
- NG6567
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 17th-century Flemish Frame
Provenance
François Langlois; Marquis de Maisons (d. 1677); Marquise de Ruffec; M. Dutrévoux; M. de Lautrec; Chevalier de la Ferrière; Prince de Conti sale, 1777; Duc de Praslin; on his death in 1793, acquired M. Paillet; Choiseul-Praslin sale, 1808; John Hoppner sale, 1808, bought John Smith; Miss Tait; William Garnett, Quernmore Park; 1919, bought from Agnew by Viscount Cowdray. Jointly purchased from the Trustees of the Cowdray Estate by the Trustees of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, the University of Birmingham, and the Trustees of the National Gallery.
Additional information
Text extracted from the National Gallery’s Annual Report, ‘The National Gallery Report: April 1997 – March 1998’.
Exhibition history
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2010Rotation of Jointly Owned Work 2010 - 2013 (NG6567 van Dyck)The Barber Institute of Fine Arts15 September 2010 - 15 September 2012
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2013Frans Hals : eye to eye with Rembrandt, Rubens and TitianFrans Hals Museum23 March 2013 - 28 July 2013
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2013About FaceThe Barber Institute of Fine Arts17 May 2013 - 1 September 2013
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2014Rotation of Jointly Owned Work 2013 - 2016 (NG6567 van Dyck)The Barber Institute of Fine Arts15 September 2014 - 15 September 2016
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2016Van Dyck: The Anatomy of PortraitureThe Frick Collection1 March 2016 - 5 June 2016
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2021Rotation of Jointly Owned Work 2021 - 2023 (NG6567 van Dyck)The Barber Institute of Fine Arts22 February 2021 - 4 October 2023
Bibliography
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1777L.-F. de Bourbon, Catalogue d'une riche collection de tableaux des maîtres les plus célebres des trois écoles …: Qui composent le cabinet de feu son altesse sérénissime Monseigneur le Prince de Conty, prince du sang, & grand Prieur de France, Paris 1777
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1793Paillet, Catalogue des tableaux précieux des écoles d'Italie, de Flandres, de Hollande et de France; figures & bustes… le tout provenant du cabinet de feu M. Choiseul-Praslin, Paris, 18 February 1793 - 25 February 1793
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1808Paillet, Catalogue des tableaux précieux des écoles d'Italie, de Hollande, de Flandres et de France: Bustes e nmarbre, gouaches montées, dessins en feuilles, meubles de marqueterie, par Boulle, et en vieux laqu, Paris, 9 May 1808
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1812Peter Coxe, The Catalogue of a Very Valuable Collection of Capital Paintings, the Property of the Honorable Thomas Bowes; Consisting of the Works of the Great Artists of the Italian, Dutch, Flemish, German, and French Schools […], London, 27 June 1812
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1830
J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters: In Which is Included a Short Biographical Notice of the Artists, with a Copious Description of Their Principal Pictures […], vol. 2, London 1830
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1853P.J. Mariette, Abecedario de P.J. Mariette et autres notes inédites de cet amateur sur les arts et les artistes […] annoté par MM. Ph. de Chennevières et A. de Montaiglon, vol. 2, eds P. de Chennevières and A. de Montaiglon, Paris 1853
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1857C. Blanc, Le trésor de la curiosité, 2 vols, Paris 1857
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1857M. Faucheux, 'François Langlois, dit de Chartres', Revue universelle des arts, VI, 1857, pp. 314-30
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1858M. Faucheux, 'François Langlois, dit de Chartres', Revue universelle des arts, VII, 1858, pp. 181-2
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1882J. Guiffrey, Antoine van Dyck: Sa vie et son oeuvre, Paris 1882
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1900L.H. Cust, Anthony van Dyck: An Historical Study of his Life and Works, London 1900
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1900H.F. Cook, 'Correspondance d'Angleterre: L'exposition van Dyck à Londres', Gazette des beaux-arts, XXIII, 1900
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1900M.J. Friedländer, 'Die V. Dyck: Ausstellung in London, 31: Winter-Exhibition der Academy', Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft, XXIII, 1900, pp. 168-71
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1909E. Schaeffer, Van Dyck: Des Meisters Gemälde, Stuttgart 1909
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1927A.F. Kendrick, T. Borenius and C. Dodgson, Catalogue of the Exhibition of Flemish and Belgian Art: Burlington House London 1927: A Memorial Volume, ed. M. Conway, London 1927
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1929M. Langlois, 'Les langlois, éditeurs d'estampes à paris au XVIIe et au XVIIIe siècles', L'Amateur d'estampes, 1929
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1931G. Glück, Van Dyck, des Meisters Gemälde, Stuttgart 1931
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1936G. Glück, 'Some Portraits of Musicians by van Dyck', The Burlington Magazine, LXIX, 1936, pp. 147‑8
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1938J.R. Thomé, 'François Langlois', Courrier graphique, 1938, pp. 15-20
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1938E.K. Waterhouse, 'Seventeenth‑Century Art in Europe at Burlington House: The Paintings', The Burlington Magazine, LXXII/418, 1938
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1943E. Winternitz, 'Bagpipes and Hurdy‑gurdies in Their Social Setting', Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, II/1, 1943
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1953R.‑A. Weigert, 'Le commerce de la gravure en France au XVIIe siècle: Les deux premiers Mariette et sur François Langlois, dit. Ciartres', Gazette des beaux-arts, XLI, 1953, pp. 167‑88
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1960C. White, 'Van Dyck Drawings and Sketches', The Burlington Magazine, CII/693, 1960, pp. 510-6
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1960R.A. d'Hulst and H. Vey, Antoon van Dyck: Tekeningen en Olieverfschetsen (exh. cat. Rubenshuis, 1 July - 31 August 1960; Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, 10 September - 6 November 1960), Rotterdam 1960
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1962H. Vey, Die Zeichnungen Anton van Dycks, Brussels 1962
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1962W. Fischer, 'Claude Vignon (1593‑1670)', Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, 1962
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1964C. von Hasselt, 'Old Master Drawings from the Lugt Collection', Apollo, LXXX/33, 1964
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1965L. van Puyvelde et al., Le siècle de Rubens (exh. cat. Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, 15 October - 12 December 1965), Brussels 1965
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1972C. von Hasselt, Flemish Drawings of the Seventeenth Century from the Collection of Frits Lugt, Institut Néerlandais, Paris (exh. cat. Victoria and Albert Museum, 9 February - 26 March 1972; Institut Néerlandais, 14 April - 28 May 1972; Kunstmuseum, 8 June - 23 July 1972; Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, 30 September - 8 November 1972), London 1972
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1980W. Gaunt, Court Painting in England from Tudor to Victorian Times, London 1980
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1982C. Brown, Van Dyck, Oxford 1982
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1982P. Rosenberg and M. Fumaroli, La peinture française du XVIIe siècle dans les collections américaines (France in the Golden Age: Seventeenth-Century French Paintings in American Collections) (exh. cat. Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, 29 January - 28 November 1982; Metropolitan Museum of Art, 26 May - 22 August 1982; Art Institute of Chicago, 18 September - 28 November 1982), Paris 1982
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1983R. Froté, 'De François Langlois à Pierre Il Mariette', Gazette des beaux-arts, CXXV/102, 1983
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1988E. Larsen, The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck, Freren 1988
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1990S.J. Barnes, A.K. Wheelock and J. Held, Anthony Van Dyck, New York 1990-1991
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1994M. Wilson, Nicholas Lanier: Master of the King's Musick, Aldershot 1994
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1996R. Cohen, Jusepe (Gioseppe or Giuseppe) de Ribera: An Alternative View of his Origins, Apprenticeship, and Early Works, London 1996
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1996'Sir Anthony van Dyck', in J. Turner (ed.), The Dictionary of Art, London 1996, vol. 18, pp. 745-6
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1998National Gallery, The National Gallery Report: April 1997- March 1998, London 1998
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1999G. Luijten and C. Depauw, Anthony van Dyck as a Printmaker, Amsterdam 1999-2000
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2001B.L. Brown (ed.), The Genius of Rome, London 2001
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2002S. Turner and F.W.H. Hollstein, The New Hollstein Dutch & Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts, 1450-1700: Anthony van Dyck, Part VI, ed. C. Depauw, Amsterdam 2002
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2003L. Libin, 'Claude Vignon's Portrait of François Langlois', Musique, Images, Instruments: Revue française d'organologie et d'iconographie musicale, V, 2003, pp. 158-64
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2004H. Vey et al., Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven 2004
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2008A. Merle du Bourg, Antoon van Dyck: Portraits (exh. cat., Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris), Brussels 2008
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2012M. Díaz Padrón, Van Dyck en España, vol. 2, Barcelona 2012
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2013A. Tummers, Frans Hals. Eye to Eye With Rembrandt, Rubens and Titian, Rotterdam 2013
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2016S. Alsteens and A. Eaker, Van Dyck: The Anatomy of Portraiture, New Haven and London 2016
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2018Christie's, Old Masters Part I, New York, 19 April 2018
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2021C. White, Anthony van Dyck & the Art of Portraiture, London 2021
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
Images
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