The spinning of Charles I: Van Dyck's idealistic portrayal of a reticent king
Like a combination of Mario Testino and Alastair Campbell, he was the chief projector of royal glamour, and chief political image maker, of Charles I.
In the process Anthony van Dyck set the standard for the grand British regal portrait, and was emulated by later artists from Gainsborough to John Singer Sargent to the portraitists of the golden age of Hollywood.
In February, Tate Britain promises to present the "sensation of the spring" when it brings together 60 of Van Dyck's most seductive and sumptuous works, mostly from the 1630s, alongside another 70 pieces by other artists that bring his development, and his legacy, into context.
The works on display will include 10 rarely seen great Van Dycks from the Royal Collection, chief among them the magnificent equestrian portrait of Charles I that normally hangs in Buckingham Palace.
Other highlights will include the sensitive double portrait of Van Dyck with his friend, the courtier Endymion Porter, which will be borrowed from the Prado in Madrid and whose absence meant a significent gap in the last major Van Dyck exhibition in Britain two decades ago.
There will also be the rare chance to see a tender portrait of the elegant widow Katherine, Lady Stanhope.
The whereabouts of the work was unknown between the 1920s and 2006, when it emerged in an art auction in the US. It is now in a British private collection. After the death of her first husband in 1634, Lady Stanhope was courted by an number of grandees including the son of Sir Walter Raleigh.
However, she may also have had a fling with Van Dyck (or engaged in "gallantries" with him, as the contemporary term had it) before they fell out over the price of her portrait.
According to Kevin Sharpe, professor of renaissance studies at Queen Mary, University of London, Van Dyck's contribution to the projection of Charles I's image was of incalculable significance. For a king who rarely spoke in public, appeared in parliament or wrote, Van Dyck's images were the primary means of expressing the ideals and values of his rule...
Read entire article at Guardian (UK)
In the process Anthony van Dyck set the standard for the grand British regal portrait, and was emulated by later artists from Gainsborough to John Singer Sargent to the portraitists of the golden age of Hollywood.
In February, Tate Britain promises to present the "sensation of the spring" when it brings together 60 of Van Dyck's most seductive and sumptuous works, mostly from the 1630s, alongside another 70 pieces by other artists that bring his development, and his legacy, into context.
The works on display will include 10 rarely seen great Van Dycks from the Royal Collection, chief among them the magnificent equestrian portrait of Charles I that normally hangs in Buckingham Palace.
Other highlights will include the sensitive double portrait of Van Dyck with his friend, the courtier Endymion Porter, which will be borrowed from the Prado in Madrid and whose absence meant a significent gap in the last major Van Dyck exhibition in Britain two decades ago.
There will also be the rare chance to see a tender portrait of the elegant widow Katherine, Lady Stanhope.
The whereabouts of the work was unknown between the 1920s and 2006, when it emerged in an art auction in the US. It is now in a British private collection. After the death of her first husband in 1634, Lady Stanhope was courted by an number of grandees including the son of Sir Walter Raleigh.
However, she may also have had a fling with Van Dyck (or engaged in "gallantries" with him, as the contemporary term had it) before they fell out over the price of her portrait.
According to Kevin Sharpe, professor of renaissance studies at Queen Mary, University of London, Van Dyck's contribution to the projection of Charles I's image was of incalculable significance. For a king who rarely spoke in public, appeared in parliament or wrote, Van Dyck's images were the primary means of expressing the ideals and values of his rule...