Lotto No. 59 -


Anthony van Dyck


Anthony van Dyck - Dipinti antichi

(Antwerp 1599–1641 London)
A young woman resting her head, probably the Penitent Magdalene,
oil on paper, laid down on panel, 48.5 x 38 cm, framed

Provenance:
Sir Francis Cook, 1st Bt. (1817-1901), Doughty House, Richmond, by 1869;
thence by descent and sold (‘The Trustees of the Cook Collection’) London, Christie‘s, 2 December 1983, lot 121;
sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 22 April 2015, lot 35;
where bought by the current owner

Exhibited:
Manchester, City Art Gallery (on loan), circa 1960-65;
Washington, National Gallery, Anthony van Dyck, 1990-1991, pp. 327, 347, cat. no. 89;
New Orleans, In the eye of the beholder: Northern baroque painting in the collection of Henry H. Weldon, 13 September – 19 November 1997, pp. 39-41, no. 16;
Baltimore, Museum of Art, 1999, cat. no. 15

Literature:
Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures at Doughty House, Richmond (belonging to Sir Frederick Cook, Bart., Visconde de Monserrate), London 1907 & 1914, p. 19, cat. no. 43 (as in The Long Gallery);
E. Schaeffer, Van Dyck: des Meisters Gemälde, Klassiker der Kunst, vol. 13, Stuttgart and Leipzig 1909, p. 22, cat. no. 22;
W. von Bode, Great Masters of Dutch and Flemish painting, London 1909, p. 37;
J. O. Kronig, A Catalogue of the Paintings at Doughty House, Richmond, & Elsewhere in the Collection of Sir Frederick Cook, Bt., Visconde de Monserrate, ed. by H. Cook, vol. 2, London 1914: Dutch and Flemish Schools, cat. no. 248, ill. (as in The Long Gallery);
G. Glück, Van Dyck, des Meisters Gemälde, Klassiker der Kunst, vol. 13, Stuttgart and Berlin 1931, 2nd rev. ed., pp. 72, 527, ill.;
Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures at Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey, in the Collection of Sir Herbert Cook, Bart., London 1932, p. 35, cat. no. 248 (as in The Long Gallery as ‘The Magdalen’);
F. van den Wijngaert, Antoon van Dyck, Antwerp 1943, p. 30, fig. 5;
E. Larsen, L’Opera completa di Van Dyck, 1613-1626, Milan 1980, cat. no. 42, ill. (where dated to circa 1615-16);
A. McNairn (ed.), The Young van Dyck, exhibition catalogue, Ottawa 1980, p. 147;
E. Larsen, The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck, Freren 1988, vol. II, cat. no. 227, ill., and under cat. no. 28;
A. K. Wheelock, S. Barnes, J. Held (eds.), Anthony van Dyck, exhibition catalogue, Washington 1990-1991, cat. no. 89, pp. 327, 347, ill.;
S. Barnes, N. de Poorter et al, Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven and London 2004, p. 59, cat. no. I. 42, ill.;
A. Vergara, F. Lammertse (eds.), The Young Van Dyck, exhibition catalogue, Madrid 2012, p. 199, cat. no. 8, pp. 116-117, ill.

The present study is an early testament to the ability and invention of the young Anthony van Dyck, described by Peter Paul Rubens in a letter of 1618 as his ‘best pupil’.

Possibly conceived as a Penitent Magdalene, it is, as Susan Barnes has described: ‘a study after life, painted in confident impasto’ (see S. Barnes, N. de Poorter et al, Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven and London 2004, p. 59, cat. no. I. 42). Executed with such painterly brio that the precocious hand of the then seventeen or eighteen year old van Dyck can be sensed upon the paper, the physiognomy of the young woman appears again in the artist’s slightly later Drunken Silenius (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, inv. no. 1017, 1619–1620). The flowing hair and facial features of the female maenad on the left of the corpulent Silenius are recognisably from the present study. Julius Held also remarked on the masterly way van Dyck could transform such a study into a character of an entirely different tenor: ‘it is astonishing to see how few changes in her face have transformed the (present) Penitent Magdalene into a smiling temptress’ (see J. Held, Anthony van Dyck, Washington 1990, cat. no. 89).

The present work has been noted for the important insight it provides into van Dyck’s artistic development vis-à-vis Rubens, whom he assisted in the execution of several of his most important history paintings. Although the Antwerp practice of creating and re-using studies, or tronies, such as the present work, made in the workshop and then re-used in larger compositions was begun by a master of the preceeding generation, Frans Floris, it was in Rubens’s studio, and through his most gifted assistant van Dyck that the qualities of this method are most apparent. As compared with Rubens’s earlier circa 1617-18 Drunken Silenius (Alte Pinakothek, Munich, inv. no. 319), the aforementioned Dresden treatment of the same subject by van Dyck exhibits some similarities with Rubens’s figural arrangement, notably the stooping Silenius, supported by a ‘Phrygian’ gaggle as related in Ovid’s Metamorphasis. However, by inventing his own surrounding figures, as also evidenced by a copy of a drawing possibly used for the black man on the right of the picture (now conserved in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) van Dyck added his own distinct accents. This makes the present study one of the most striking records of the young artist’s innovative genius and painterly accomplishment.

Despite van Dyck’s other representations of the Penitent Magdalene, the current composition has not been published in connection with a larger finished work of the same subject. Given its quality and technique, it is unsurprising that the sketch itself was imitated, and it exists in several non-autograph versions. Best among these was that formerly in the Stroefer collection (oil on panel, 28 Munich 1937).

Esperto: Damian Brenninkmeyer Damian Brenninkmeyer
+43 1 515 60 403

oldmasters@dorotheum.com

09.06.2020 - 16:00

Prezzo realizzato: **
EUR 344.104,-
Stima:
EUR 300.000,- a EUR 500.000,-

Anthony van Dyck


(Antwerp 1599–1641 London)
A young woman resting her head, probably the Penitent Magdalene,
oil on paper, laid down on panel, 48.5 x 38 cm, framed

Provenance:
Sir Francis Cook, 1st Bt. (1817-1901), Doughty House, Richmond, by 1869;
thence by descent and sold (‘The Trustees of the Cook Collection’) London, Christie‘s, 2 December 1983, lot 121;
sale, Sotheby’s, New York, 22 April 2015, lot 35;
where bought by the current owner

Exhibited:
Manchester, City Art Gallery (on loan), circa 1960-65;
Washington, National Gallery, Anthony van Dyck, 1990-1991, pp. 327, 347, cat. no. 89;
New Orleans, In the eye of the beholder: Northern baroque painting in the collection of Henry H. Weldon, 13 September – 19 November 1997, pp. 39-41, no. 16;
Baltimore, Museum of Art, 1999, cat. no. 15

Literature:
Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures at Doughty House, Richmond (belonging to Sir Frederick Cook, Bart., Visconde de Monserrate), London 1907 & 1914, p. 19, cat. no. 43 (as in The Long Gallery);
E. Schaeffer, Van Dyck: des Meisters Gemälde, Klassiker der Kunst, vol. 13, Stuttgart and Leipzig 1909, p. 22, cat. no. 22;
W. von Bode, Great Masters of Dutch and Flemish painting, London 1909, p. 37;
J. O. Kronig, A Catalogue of the Paintings at Doughty House, Richmond, & Elsewhere in the Collection of Sir Frederick Cook, Bt., Visconde de Monserrate, ed. by H. Cook, vol. 2, London 1914: Dutch and Flemish Schools, cat. no. 248, ill. (as in The Long Gallery);
G. Glück, Van Dyck, des Meisters Gemälde, Klassiker der Kunst, vol. 13, Stuttgart and Berlin 1931, 2nd rev. ed., pp. 72, 527, ill.;
Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures at Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey, in the Collection of Sir Herbert Cook, Bart., London 1932, p. 35, cat. no. 248 (as in The Long Gallery as ‘The Magdalen’);
F. van den Wijngaert, Antoon van Dyck, Antwerp 1943, p. 30, fig. 5;
E. Larsen, L’Opera completa di Van Dyck, 1613-1626, Milan 1980, cat. no. 42, ill. (where dated to circa 1615-16);
A. McNairn (ed.), The Young van Dyck, exhibition catalogue, Ottawa 1980, p. 147;
E. Larsen, The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck, Freren 1988, vol. II, cat. no. 227, ill., and under cat. no. 28;
A. K. Wheelock, S. Barnes, J. Held (eds.), Anthony van Dyck, exhibition catalogue, Washington 1990-1991, cat. no. 89, pp. 327, 347, ill.;
S. Barnes, N. de Poorter et al, Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven and London 2004, p. 59, cat. no. I. 42, ill.;
A. Vergara, F. Lammertse (eds.), The Young Van Dyck, exhibition catalogue, Madrid 2012, p. 199, cat. no. 8, pp. 116-117, ill.

The present study is an early testament to the ability and invention of the young Anthony van Dyck, described by Peter Paul Rubens in a letter of 1618 as his ‘best pupil’.

Possibly conceived as a Penitent Magdalene, it is, as Susan Barnes has described: ‘a study after life, painted in confident impasto’ (see S. Barnes, N. de Poorter et al, Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven and London 2004, p. 59, cat. no. I. 42). Executed with such painterly brio that the precocious hand of the then seventeen or eighteen year old van Dyck can be sensed upon the paper, the physiognomy of the young woman appears again in the artist’s slightly later Drunken Silenius (Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, inv. no. 1017, 1619–1620). The flowing hair and facial features of the female maenad on the left of the corpulent Silenius are recognisably from the present study. Julius Held also remarked on the masterly way van Dyck could transform such a study into a character of an entirely different tenor: ‘it is astonishing to see how few changes in her face have transformed the (present) Penitent Magdalene into a smiling temptress’ (see J. Held, Anthony van Dyck, Washington 1990, cat. no. 89).

The present work has been noted for the important insight it provides into van Dyck’s artistic development vis-à-vis Rubens, whom he assisted in the execution of several of his most important history paintings. Although the Antwerp practice of creating and re-using studies, or tronies, such as the present work, made in the workshop and then re-used in larger compositions was begun by a master of the preceeding generation, Frans Floris, it was in Rubens’s studio, and through his most gifted assistant van Dyck that the qualities of this method are most apparent. As compared with Rubens’s earlier circa 1617-18 Drunken Silenius (Alte Pinakothek, Munich, inv. no. 319), the aforementioned Dresden treatment of the same subject by van Dyck exhibits some similarities with Rubens’s figural arrangement, notably the stooping Silenius, supported by a ‘Phrygian’ gaggle as related in Ovid’s Metamorphasis. However, by inventing his own surrounding figures, as also evidenced by a copy of a drawing possibly used for the black man on the right of the picture (now conserved in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) van Dyck added his own distinct accents. This makes the present study one of the most striking records of the young artist’s innovative genius and painterly accomplishment.

Despite van Dyck’s other representations of the Penitent Magdalene, the current composition has not been published in connection with a larger finished work of the same subject. Given its quality and technique, it is unsurprising that the sketch itself was imitated, and it exists in several non-autograph versions. Best among these was that formerly in the Stroefer collection (oil on panel, 28 Munich 1937).

Esperto: Damian Brenninkmeyer Damian Brenninkmeyer
+43 1 515 60 403

oldmasters@dorotheum.com


Hotline dell'acquirente lun-ven: 10.00 - 17.00
old.masters@dorotheum.at

+43 1 515 60 403
Asta: Dipinti antichi
Tipo d'asta: Asta in sala
Data: 09.06.2020 - 16:00
Luogo dell'asta: Wien | Palais Dorotheum
Esposizione: 02.06. - 09.06.2020


** Prezzo d'acquisto comprensivo di tassa di vendita e IVA(Paese di consegna Austria)

Non è più possibile effettuare un ordine di acquisto su Internet. L'asta è in preparazione o è già stata eseguita.