A portrait of Sir Robert Howard, K.B. (1626-1698), half-length

细节

Sir Anthony van Dyck (Antwerp 1599-1641 London)
A portrait of Sir Robert Howard, K.B. (1626-1698), half-length
inscribed 'Sir Robert Howard' (center left)
oil on canvas
42 x 33 in. (106.9 x 83.8 cm.)

来源

The Earl of Home.

展览

London, Royal Academy, National Portrait Exhibition, 1866, no. 887.

拍场告示

Please note that the provenance and exhibition history for this lot should read:

Provenance:
Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon (1608-1674), and
by descent to his son
Henry, 2nd Earl of Clarendon (1638-1709), recorded at Cornbury, Wilshire, circa 1683-5 and circa 1721-1731 by Vertue (loc. cit.), and by descent to
Henry Hyde, 4th Earl of Clarendon (1672-1753) and by inheritance to his daughter,
Catherine, Duchess of Queensberry and Dover (d. 1777), recorded at Amesbury, Wiltshire, in 1769 by Musgrave (loc. cit.), and by inheritance to
William Douglas, 4th Duke of Queensberry (1724-
1810), and by inheritance to
Archibald, 1st Lord Douglas (d. 1827) at Bothwell
Castle, Lanarkshire, and by descent to his eldest daughter and co-heiress,
Jane Douglas (d. 1859), who married Henry Scott, 2nd Lord Montagu of Boughton (1778-1845), and by inheritance to their daughter,
Lucy Scott, who married Cospatrick, 11th Earl of Home (1799-1881), and by descent to
Charles Douglas-Home, 13th Earl of Home (1873-1951);
Christie's, London, 20 June 1919.

Exhibited:
South Kensington, National Portrait Exhibition, 1866, no. 887.

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拍品专文

This unpublished portrait is a characteristic work of Van Dyck's English period. The sitter, the Hon. Sir Robert Howard, K.B. was the fifth of seven sons of Lord Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire (d. 1626). He was the uncle of the probable sitter of the portrait identified as of Mrs. Howard (O.Millar, in Van Dyck, A complete catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven and London, 2004, no. IV.138), and a first cousin of one of the artist's key patrons, Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel (Millar, nos. IV.9-11): both the latter's surviving sons, Henry, Viscount Maltravers, later Earl of Arundel and Thomas, Viscount Stafford were also portrayed by Van Dyck (Millar, nos. 12 and 212, the latter also with the sash of the Order of the Bath).

From the outset of his career the artist had been a sympathetic observer of patrons who were much older than himself; and his keen human understanding is implied in this portrait of a man who was probably well into his fifties. The picture was evidently painted at speed and the rich red of the sash of the Order of the Bath illuminates the sober black of the costume, itself realised with a characteristic bravura reflecting Van Dyck's study of the portraiture of Titian. A dating in the late 1630s seems likely: the wide collar is found in portraits of the period (e.g., Thomas Cromwell, Millar, no. IV. 81, reliably dated 1638; Sir Arthur Hopton, Millar, no. IV.137, datable circa 1637-1638).