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| Sign outside the Weiss Gallery, London |
The sign above caught my eye a few weeks back when walking in Jermyn Street ...
The picture displayed in the Weiss Gallery, the 'leading dealer in Tudor, Stuart and North European Old Master portraiture' in London, is from the studio of Van Dyck and features Charles I circa 1636-1640, most likely deriving from the half-length portrait in the collection of the Duke of Norfolk at Arundel Castle.
The gallery's 17th century portraits are interesting as many are perhaps unfamiliar to historians of the period due to previously being held in private collections. A couple of examples I wasn't aware of include:
- Dobson's painting of the Earl of Clarendon (not included on the Dobson website map of surviving examples)
- Lely's portrait of an unknown noblewoman.
Other fine pieces include two other portraits of unknown ladies by Cornelius Johnson and Mary Beale, the first native born professional female painter to work in England, and portraits of noble children, including this chubby-cheeked infant painted by Dutch artist Bartholomeus van der Helst.
I don't have the rights to show the images here, but you can view the current collection on the 17th century page on the gallery's website. The collection, at 59 Jermyn Street, is open to the public Mon-Fri and at other times by appointment.
weissgallery.com
williamdobson.tv
Studio of: Anthony van Dyck
1599 – 1641
King Charles I of England (1600 – 1649)
Painted circa 1636Oil on canvas: 51 3/16 x 40 inches, 128 x 100 cm
Provenance
- Private collection, Rome, until 2011.
The present portrait probably dates from circa
1636 – 1640, in the period after Van Dyck’s return from Flanders, when
his already close relationship with the King and his family intensified.
An imposing early image of the King, it is a fine version from Van
Dyck’s studio or his close circle, of a type for which no certain
original by the artist has survived. It most likely derives from the
famous half-length in armour in the collection of the Duke of Norfolk at
Arundel Castle, where the King’s left hand is shown resting on a helmet
with a baton in his right hand. In our portrait, however, as in other
studio versions, his right arm rests on a sphere or globe, the symbol of
earth and therefore of terrestrial power.
Van Dyck settled in London in April 1632 and not long after on the 5th July was knighted by the King and appointed ‘Principal Painter in Ordinary to their Majesties’. His task was to provide portraits of the King and his family, and in this way Van Dyck’s role was not unlike that of Velasquez in the court of Philip IV of Spain. The variety of the artist’s portraits of the King was astonishing, portraying Charles I in full royal splendour as the personification of the divine rights of kings, and depicting different facets of his personality.
As well as the various portraits of the King in robes and in armour, such as the present work, other pivotal pieces included Charles I with Henrietta Maria and Prince Charles and Princess Mary, (1632, Royal Collection), in which the King is presented as the supreme patriarch, a father figure who commands and protects his people as he does his own family. Of his great equestrian portraits, Charles I on horseback, (1638, National Gallery, London), shows him as the conquering hero and emperor of Great Britain at a time when there was great civil unrest. A third aspect of kingship was captured in Charles a la Chasse, (1635, Louvre, Paris), portrayed as the ultimate courtier – elegant, poised and relaxed, commanding his surroundings with an air of serene self-possession and nobility. With such a prodigious output, Van Dyck employed a considerable studio of assistants to provide replicas and supply versions of these for his royal patrons to distribute to loyal subjects and foreign ambassadors.
- See more at: http://www.weissgallery.com/paintings/king-charles-i-england-1600-%E2%80%93-1649#sthash.XxuJPeCD.dpufVan Dyck settled in London in April 1632 and not long after on the 5th July was knighted by the King and appointed ‘Principal Painter in Ordinary to their Majesties’. His task was to provide portraits of the King and his family, and in this way Van Dyck’s role was not unlike that of Velasquez in the court of Philip IV of Spain. The variety of the artist’s portraits of the King was astonishing, portraying Charles I in full royal splendour as the personification of the divine rights of kings, and depicting different facets of his personality.
As well as the various portraits of the King in robes and in armour, such as the present work, other pivotal pieces included Charles I with Henrietta Maria and Prince Charles and Princess Mary, (1632, Royal Collection), in which the King is presented as the supreme patriarch, a father figure who commands and protects his people as he does his own family. Of his great equestrian portraits, Charles I on horseback, (1638, National Gallery, London), shows him as the conquering hero and emperor of Great Britain at a time when there was great civil unrest. A third aspect of kingship was captured in Charles a la Chasse, (1635, Louvre, Paris), portrayed as the ultimate courtier – elegant, poised and relaxed, commanding his surroundings with an air of serene self-possession and nobility. With such a prodigious output, Van Dyck employed a considerable studio of assistants to provide replicas and supply versions of these for his royal patrons to distribute to loyal subjects and foreign ambassadors.
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