Style of Anthony van Dyck, 'Portraits of Two Young Englishmen', about 1635-40
About the work
Overview
Two young men in fashionable clothing look into the distance as they lean against a plinth. This double portrait has traditionally been considered to be by Anthony van Dyck, but this is now doubted. Though it reflects the style of the artist in the 1630s, it could have been painted by a follower working in his style or from a lost original or workshop design during the 1640s or 1650s (Van Dyck died in 1641).
The sitters have in the past been identified as Lords John and Bernard Stuart, the youngest sons of Esmé Stuart, 3rd Duke of Lennox. But the men depicted here bear little resemblance to known portraits of the brothers, such as Van Dyck’s own Lord John Stuart and his Brother, Lord Bernard Stuart (also in the National Gallery’s collection). Van Dyck’s portrait may well be the model for this work: the colour palette is similar, as is the austere setting, the attitude of the poses and the pairing of two sitters who appear to be related.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Portraits of Two Young Englishmen
- Artist
- Style of Anthony van Dyck
- Artist dates
- 1599 - 1641
- Date made
- about 1635-40
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 193.7 × 126 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1922
- Inventory number
- NG3605
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Bought from Jan Baptist Gaspers (1620?–1690?) by Anthony de Grey, 11th Earl of Kent († 1702) for £30 in June, 1682; inherited by his son, Henry († 1740), Duke of Kent from 1710, Marquess Grey (1740), in whose collection at St. James’s Sq., London, seen by Vertue, 1730; inherited by his grand‐daughter, Jemima († 1797), created Marchioness de Grey, 1740, with the barony of Lucas, in the collection of whose husband, Philip Yorke, styled Viscount Royston (from 1754–1764), later Earl of Hardwicke, at St. James’ Sq., seen by Walpole in 1761; inherited by her daughter, Amabel († 1833), created Countess de Grey of Wrest, 1816, with the barony of Lucas, in whose collection recorded by Smith, 1831; inherited by her nephew, Thomas Philip, Earl de Grey († 1889) with the barony of Lucas, in whose collection seen by Waagen, 1851; exh. Manchester Art Treasures, 1857 (117); inherited by his daughter, Anne Florence, Dowager Countess Cowper († 1880) with the barony of Lucas; exh. R.A., 1873 (117); inherited by her son Earl Cowper († 1905) with the barony of Lucas, and recorded at Panshanger in 1885; exh. Grosvenor Gallery, 1887 (47); inherited by his nephew, Auberon Thomas Herbert, 8th Baron Lucas († 1916); bought from his sister, Lady Lucas, with the aid of the Temple West Fund, 1922.
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
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2018Fashion Drive. Extreme clothing in the Visual ArtsKunsthaus Zürich20 April 2018 - 15 July 2018
Bibliography
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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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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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1857W. Bürger, Trésors d'art exposés à Manchester en 1857 et provenant des collections royales, des collections publiques et des collections particulières de la Grande Bretagne par W. Burger, Paris 1857
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1882J. Guiffrey, Antoine van Dyck: Sa vie et son oeuvre, Paris 1882
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1885M.L. Boyle, Biographical Catalogue of the Portraits at Panshanger, London 1885
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1887'The Grosvenor Exhibition (Second Notice)', The Athenaeum, 1887
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1887J.A. Blaikie, 'Van Dyck', Magazine of Art, X, 1887, pp. 198-206
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1900L.H. Cust, Anthony van Dyck: An Historical Study of his Life and Works, London 1900
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1922C.H.C. Baker, 'The New van Dyck at the National Gallery', The Connoisseur, LXII, 1922, pp. 117-8
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1922C. Holmes, 'Georges and Francis Villiers', The Burlington Magazine, XL, 1922, pp. 54-6
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1927P. Toynbee, 'Horace Walpole’s Journals of Visits to Country seats, &c.', The Walpole Society, vol. 16, 1927-28, pp. 9-80
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1931G. Glück, Van Dyck, des Meisters Gemälde, Stuttgart 1931
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1931G. Vertue, 'Vertue Note Books, II', The Walpole Society, XX, 1932
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1933G. Vertue, 'Vertue Note Books, III', The Walpole Society, XXII, 1934
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1937C.R. Cammell, 'A Misnamed Portrait Group at the National Gallery', The Connoisseur, 1937, pp. 202ff
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1950L. van Puyvelde, Van Dyck, Brussels 1950
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1970G. Martin, The Flemish School, circa 1600-circa 1900, London 1970
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1973M. Jaffé, [Review] 'National Gallery Catalogues: The Flemish School ca. 1600-ca. 1900 by Gregory Martin; Flemish Paintings and Drawings at 56 Princes Gate London, Addenda by Antoine Seilern', Art Bulletin, vol. 55, no. 3 (Sep.), 1973, pp. 462-4
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1977J. Mills and R. White, 'Analyses of Paint Media', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, I, 1977, pp. 57-9
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1982O. Millar, Van Dyck in England, London 1982-1983
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1986Martin, Gregory, National Gallery Catalogues: The Flemish School, circa 1600 - circa 1900, London 1986
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1987R. Simon, The Portrait in Britain and America: With a Biographical Dictionary of Portrait Painters 1680-1914, Oxford 1987
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1988E. Larsen, The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck, Freren 1988
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1994M. Rogers, 'Van Dyck's Portrait of Lord George Stuart, Seigneur d'Aubigny, and Some Related Works', in S.J. Barnes and A.K. Wheelock (eds), <i>Van Dyck 350</i>, Washington 1994, pp. 263-78
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2001E.E. Gordenker, Van Dyck (1599-1641) and the Representation of Dress in the Seventeenth-Century Portraiture, Turnhout 2001
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2001E. Chaney and G. Worsdale, The Stuart Portrait: Status and Legacy (exh. cat., Southampton Art Gallery), Southampton 2001
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2004H. Vey et al., Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven 2004
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2007M. Baur-Callwey, Die Differenzierung des Gemeinsamen: Männliche Doppelporträts in England von Hans Holbein d. J. bis Joshua Reynolds, Munich 2007
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2010C. Whitfield and E. Clark, Caravaggio's Friends & Foes, London 2010
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2018C. Becker and C. Hug (eds), Fashion Drive: Extreme Clothing in the Visual Arts, Bielefeld 2018
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2021J. Peacock, Picturing Courtiers and Nobles from Castiglione to Van Dyck: Self Representation by Early Modern Elites, New York 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.
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