Style of Anthony van Dyck, Portrait of a Woman
Full title | Portrait of a Woman |
---|---|
Artist | Style of Anthony van Dyck |
Artist dates | 1599 - 1641 |
Date made | after 1635 |
Medium and support | Oil on copper |
Dimensions | 59.7 × 47.2 cm |
Acquisition credit | Layard Bequest, 1916 |
Inventory number | NG3132 |
Location | Not on display |
Collection | Main Collection |
Previous owners |
The identity of this brown-eyed woman who sits for what may be an engagement or marriage portrait remains a mystery. She is probably aristocratic and is clearly wealthy – the many pearls strung around her neck and over her shoulders, and the two large tear-drop pearls of her earrings, are showily expensive, as are the gold-set precious stones in her hair and the large broach at her breast.
The portrait itself has been commissioned from an artist of some skill – another testimony to the wealth and status of her family. In the nineteenth century it was attributed to Van Dyck, but it is now thought to be a copy of a work by him, although no original has been traced. The style of her dress and its extravagant silk and satin wings suggests a date in the 1630s. A portrait of Queen Henrietta Maria of England by Van Dyck, dating to about 1637 (private collection), shows her in a similar costume.
The identity of this brown-eyed woman who sits for what may be an engagement or marriage portrait remains a mystery. She is probably aristocratic and is clearly wealthy – the many pearls strung around her neck and over her shoulders, and the two large tear-drop pearls of her earrings, are showily expensive, as are the gold-set precious stones in her hair and the large broach at her breast.
The portrait itself has been commissioned from an artist of some skill – another testimony to the wealth and status of her family. In the nineteenth century it was attributed to Van Dyck, but is now thought to be a copy of a work by him, although no original has been traced. The style of her dress and its extravagant silk and satin wings suggests a date in the 1630s. A portrait of Queen Henrietta Maria of England by Van Dyck, dating to about 1637 (private collection), shows her in a similar costume.
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