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Portrait of a Man

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Portrait of a Man

Artist Anthony van Dyck (Flemish, 1599 - 1641)
Place of OriginFlanders
Dateabout 1630
DimensionsPainting: 41 1/2 × 33 in. (105.4 × 83.8 cm)
Frame: 53 1/2 × 45 1/2 × 5 in. (135.9 × 115.6 × 12.7 cm)
MediumOil on canvas
ClassificationPaintings
Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey
Object number
1964.33
On View
Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 24
Label TextThe man in this painting remains unidentified, but the painting was made during a period when Anthony van Dyck painted portraits of prominent Antwerp citizens and members of the Hapsburg court at Brussels. The elegant pose and expensive silk suit with elaborate lace collar and cuffs suggests that the man is a member of the nobility. The column in the background also associates him with all of the grandeur of classical architecture and the vast spaces of a royal court or noble palace. By the time he reached his twenties, after years of working as Peter Paul Rubens’s assistant and collaborator (see Rubens’ Crowning of Saint Catherine in the Great Gallery), Van Dyck was sought after by distinguished patrons in Britain, Italy, and the Southern Netherlands. The easy grace, aristocratic reserve, and elegance that Van Dyck imparted to his sitters became an ideal model for European portraiture in the centuries following his death.Published ReferencesWeltkunst, no. 7, April 1, p. 222.

"News from the World of Art," Apollo, vol. LXXIX, no. 27, May 1964, p. 440.

"Treasures for Toledo," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 7, no. 4, Winter 1964, repr. p. 89 (also published as handbook).

Wittmann, Otto, "Treasures at Toledo, Ohio," Apollo, vol. LXXXI, no. 35, January 1965, pp. 28-35, repr. p. 34.

"New Accessions, U. S. A.," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, vol. 65, no. 1153, February 1965, no. 172, p. 40 repr.

Bruner, Louise, "The Toledo Museum of Art," American Artist, vol. 30, no. 4, April 1966, repr. p. 35.

"Accessions of American and Canadian Museums," Art Quarterly, vol. 29, no. 2, p. 167.

Wittmann, Otto, "The Golden Age in the Netherlands," Apollo, vol. 86, no. 70, December 1967, p. 467, repr. fig. 4.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 57, pl. 103.

The Toledo Museum of Art: A Guide to the Collections, Toledo, 1976, repr. p. 56.

Morse, John D., Old Master Paintings in North America, New York, 1979, p. 112.

Larsen, Erik, The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck, Freren, 1988, vol. II, p. 451.

Exhibition HistoryKing's Lynn, Fermoy Art Gallery, Pictures by Sir Anthony van Dyck, 1963, no. 11 (cat. by G. Agnew).
Saint Martin Sharing His Mantle
After Anthony van Dyck
about 1622
Portrait of Pieter Breughel
Anthony van Dyck
about 1626-1632
Portrait of Jan Breughel
Anthony van Dyck
about 1626-1632
Man in a Fur-Lined Coat
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn
about 1655-1660
Self-Portrait
Bartholomeus van der Helst
1655
Self-Portrait (or Portrait of a Man)
Jozef Israëls
mid 19th-early 20th Century
Portrait of a Man
Claude-Marie Dubufe
about 1835-1845
Portrait of a Man
Nicolas de Largillière
1703
Portrait of a Man
Nicolaes Maes
1680-1690
Still Life with a Wine Ewer
Abraham van Beyeren
after 1655

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