Anthony van Dyck

Anthony van Dyck was born in Antwerp in 1599 and trained early as a painter. He worked with Peter Paul Rubens, travelled to England and Italy, and later became the main court painter for Charles I. His portraits of the aristocracy and royal family made him a dominant influence on English portrait painting for more than 150 years.

He also painted mythological, allegorical, and biblical subjects, including altarpieces, and was an important innovator in watercolour and etching. His Iconography series of portrait etchings was highly successful, and his style in England combined relaxed elegance with authority. He was knighted, married Mary Ruthven in 1640, and died in London in 1641.

Reading notes

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• Born in Antwerp in 1599, he entered painting early and became a master in the Guild of Saint Luke in 1617.
• Worked in Peter Paul Rubens’s workshop, whose influence was decisive in his formation.
• Passed through London, Flanders, and Italy, staying mainly in Genoa between 1621 and 1627.
• In 1630 he was painter to the court of the Archduchess Isabella and, in 1632, returned to London as Charles I’s main court painter.
• He became known above all for portraits of the aristocracy, especially Charles I, his family, and his associates.
• His court portrait helped transform the genre and marked English painting for more than 150 years.
• He also painted mythological, allegorical, and biblical subjects, as well as altarpieces.
• He developed and expanded the Iconography, a series of engraved portraits of notable contemporaries.
• He produced drawings, engravings, and watercolor studies, with an important role in the Flemish tradition of watercolor landscape in England.
• He received knighthood from Charles I, married Mary Ruthven in 1640, and died in London in 1641.