Anthony van Dyck, 'Portrait of a Woman and Child', about 1620-1
About the work
Overview
The glorious colours in this portrait are equalled by the delicacy and sensitivity with which Van Dyck has captured an intimate moment between us and an unknown woman and her little boy. She wears the formal clothing of an affluent bourgeois wife: a black silk dress with an elaborate gold stomacher, and fine lace and jewellery at her wrist. The child wears the voluminous skirts worn by all children, including boys up to the age of about five years old, but his hat marks him out as a boy.
During his early career, Van Dyck lived in Antwerp. He painted some of his least formal portraits in the city, mostly – like this one – of the bourgeois citizens and their families. The paintings Van Dyck made in Antwerp have more in common with the works of Rubens, his teacher, than they do with his later portraits of aristocrats, made when he was in England.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Portrait of a Woman and Child
- Artist
- Anthony van Dyck
- Artist dates
- 1599 - 1641
- Date made
- about 1620-1
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 131.5 × 106.2 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1914
- Inventory number
- NG3011
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
- Frame
- 18th-century French Frame
Provenance
Apparently recorded for the first time in the Palazzo S. Giacomo Balbi ( = coll. Francesco‐Maria Balbi b. 1734), Genoa, in 1758, also recorded in coll. Francesco‐Maria Balbi, 1780. Coll. Sir Abraham Hume (1749–1838) by 1815, when lent to the B.I. (2); exh. B.I. 1836 (7); inherited by his grandson, Lord Alford (1812–1851); exh. B.I. 1838 (22), 1843 (80); inherited by his son, Earl Brownlow (1842–1867), and then by the latter’s brother, Earl Brownlow (1844–1921); exh. R.A. 1871 (125), 1893 (127) and 1900 (11), Grosvenor Gallery, 1887 (118), Musée des Beaux‐Arts, Antwerp, 1899 (98); purchased from Earl Brownlow, 1914.
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Gregory Martin, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Flemish School: circa 1600–circa 1900’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
-
2012The Young van Dyck [2012]Museo Nacional del Prado20 November 2012 - 31 March 2013
Bibliography
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1758C.-N. Cochin, II, Voyage d'italie, Paris 1758
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1780C.G. Ratti, Instruzione di quanto può vedersi di più bello in Genova in pittura, scultura, ed architettura ecc, Geneva 1780
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1815R. Smirke, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Pictures Now Exhibiting at the British Institution, London 1815
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1824A Descriptive Catalogue of a Collection of Pictures ……belonging to Sir Abraham Hume, London 1824
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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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1838G.F. Waagen, Works of Art and Artists in England, trans. H. Lloyd, vol. 2, London 1838
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1854G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
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1882J. Guiffrey, Antoine van Dyck: Sa vie et son oeuvre, Paris 1882
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1887J.A. Blaikie, 'Van Dyck', Magazine of Art, X, 1887, pp. 198-206
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1887'The Grosvenor Exhibition (Third and Concluding Notice)', The Athenaeum, 1887
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1899C. Phillips, 'Van Dyck's Works at the Academy', Daily Telegraph, II, 1899
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1900L.H. Cust, Anthony van Dyck: An Historical Study of his Life and Works, London 1900
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1900'The Royal Academy Winter Exhibition (Second Notice)', The Athenaeum, 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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1900C. Phillips, 'Van Dyck at Burlington House', Art Journal, 1900
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1909E. Schaeffer, Van Dyck: Des Meisters Gemälde, Stuttgart 1909
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1931G. Glück, Van Dyck, des Meisters Gemälde, Stuttgart 1931
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1970G. Martin, The Flemish School, circa 1600-circa 1900, London 1970
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1977C. Brown and J. Plesters, 'Rembrandt's Portrait of Hendrickje Stoffels, I', Apollo, CVI, 1977, pp. 286-91
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1982H. Brigstocke and W. Buchanan, William Buchanan and the 19th Century Art Trade: 100 Letters to his Agents in London and Italy, London 1982
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1986Martin, Gregory, National Gallery Catalogues: The Flemish School, circa 1600 - circa 1900, London 1986
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1987C. Brown, The National Gallery Schools of Painting: Flemish Paintings, London 1987
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1987F. Lamera and G. Pigafetta (eds), Il palazzo dell'Università di Genova: Il collegio dei Gesuiti nella strada dei Balbi, Geneva 1987
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1988E. Larsen, The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck, Freren 1988
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1990C. Brown, Colección Cambó (exh. cat. Museo Nacional del Prado, 9 October - 31 December 1990), Madrid 1990
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1991C.-N. Cochin, II, Le voyage d'Italie de Charles-Nicolas Cochin (1758): Édité en facsimile avec une introduction et des notes [par] Christian Michel, ed. C. Michel, facsimile edn, Rome 1991
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1991C. Olcese Spingardi, 'Fonti e materiali per la storia del collezionismo dell'Ottocento a Genova: Federico Mylius', Studi di storia delle arti, VII, 1991, pp. 203‑23
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1997P. Cherry and M.B. Burke, Collections of Paintings in Madrid, 1601-1755, vol. 1, ed. M.L. Gilbert, Los Angeles 1997
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1999A. Roy, 'The National Gallery van Dycks: Technique and Development', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XX, 1999, pp. 50‑83
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1999R. White, 'Van Dyck's Paint Medium', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XX, 1999, pp. 84-8
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2002M. Autin Graz, Children in Painting, Milano 2002
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2004H. Vey et al., Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven 2004
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2012A. Vergara and F. Lammertse, The Young Van Dyck (exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid), Madrid 2012
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2012H. Brigstocke, 'James Irvine: A Scottish Artist in Italy. Picture Buying in Italy for William Buchanan and Arthur Champernowne', The Walpole Society, LXXIV, 2012, pp. 245-479
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2016S. Gatenbröcker, Familienglück: Rembrandt und sein Braunschweiger Meisterwerk, Petersberg 2016
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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