Van Dyck: International Portraitist Extraordinaire

Why did King Charles I bring Anthony van Dyck to London as his court painter in 1632? Well, van Dyck could make you look magnificent, every inch a monarch. He'd portrayed the ruling elite in all their sumptuous finery in Rome, Genoa, Brussels and The Hague, and the results were stunning. Van Dyck has the reputation of being the best portraitist in Europe in the early 17th century, and if you want to know why, make an effort to get to the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa to see Van Dyck, the European, a superlative exhibition about a superlative painter. 

This is what Charles was paying van Dyck's high prices for: that impression of regal might (and no expense spared on the fashionable outfits or coiffure either). The figures of the King and his Queen, Henrietta Maria, are about lifesize and feel incredibly real, even four centuries later. 

Of course, just in case you didn't recognise His Royal Highness, there's his golden crown, sceptre and orb on the table behind him. Though we're not told about it in Genoa, van Dyck reworked the pose from a painting by his predecessor at court, Daniel Mytens, which appears awkward in comparison. 

This double portrait is not a painting you get to see every day: It's normally to be found in the collection of the Archbishopric of Olomouc in the Czech Republic (Why? Well, back in 1673, about a quarter of a century after Charles's execution, the Prince-Bishop of the time acquired part of the royal collection via some art dealers in Cologne....). But this is one of the joys of this exhibition; they've brought together paintings from across Europe from van Dyck's extensive oeuvre. And it is extensive; in Brussels and London in 1635, he was finishing a painting a week (though finishing must have been very much the operative word; members of his workshop will surely have done much of the preparatory painting, with prices rising depending on how much of a final touch the master added.)

And of course, as well as grandeur and glamour, van Dyck could do tenderness. Here are Princesses Elizabeth and Anne, the daughters of Charles and Henrietta Maria, painted in 1637. Anne was born in March that year, so she can have only been a few months old. Babies are notoriously difficult to paint, but this sketch is amazingly lifelike and animated.

Van Dyck started young; he may have already had his first studio in Antwerp at the age of 14 or 15, and the very first picture you see is an astoundingly assured Self-Portrait at that age, characterised by broad, quick brushstrokes. Below is another early self-portrayal from not very much later. 

Standing in front of this canvas we felt those penetrating eyes were weighing us up. He certainly gives little about himself away: The clothing is not notable or glamorous, although his dark hat does appear to be at a jaunty angle. There are no late self-portraits in this show; the fantastic van Dyck with a sunflower hasn't made the trip. 

But there is a painting of his wife, Mary Ruthven, who looks every bit Lady van Dyck (Charles knighted him as well as appointing him court painter). She wears a gorgeous gown, pearls and other accoutrements. Her hair was done in the latest fashion with a large area of forehead bare. Shaving or plucking the hairs out achieved this look.... ouch.

It has to be said that she does look rather pleased with herself. She was more than 20 years younger than the artist and from a Scottish Catholic family (you can see her holding up a rosary). Tradition has it that the marriage was encouraged by the King to end the artist's clandestine relationship with another courtier, Margaret Lemon. Mary gave birth to a daughter in December 1641, but van Dyck died just eight days later; he was only 42.

He'd packed a lot into his career. This very well laid-out show (one of the curators is Katlijne Van der Stighelen, recent rediscoverer of Michaelina Wautier) takes you carefully through the artist's life and travels, focusing on Antwerp, Genoa and London. An early Antwerp painting, made for an English patron and now in Dulwich Picture Gallery, is Samson and Delilah, demonstrating his taste for the theatrical. 

Look at those female faces in the background, watching on as Delilah holds up a finger to say sssh. And look also at the dirt on the soles of Samson's feet. 

You see the same theatricality in many of the portraits, such as this absolutely splendid Young General in Armour, painted somewhere in Italy in the early 1620s. The detail on the breastplate is stunning. 

Now for one of the real highlights of this exhibition. Meet the Giustiniani Longo brothers, from a noble Genoese family: Alessandro, Vincenzo and Francesco Maria. 

Their extravagant richly coloured outfits, the grandiose setting and their elegant poses are most eye-catching, but van Dyck has cleverly interwoven their figures and movements in a new style of portraiture to show their personalities. And he's also alluded to their little brother, Luciano, who died prematurely. On the bottom step sit two crows, omens of death, and Francesco Maria, still in the skirt-like garment worn by small children, is also holding a small bird.  

This painting is actually from London's National Gallery (though we don't recall ever seeing it) and was previously thought to depict members of a different Genoese family; new research ahead of this exhibition has led to the changed identification.

Back in Antwerp, Jacob de Witte and His Wife Maria Nutius chose the black-and-white, restrained look. But the quality of the cloth and the preciseness of the large ruffs leaves the viewer in no doubt that they were very wealthy indeed.

There's one room towards the end of the exhibition (just before you get to the religious art that, as so often, didn't quite move us as it was intended to), which is filled with a range of almost overwhelmingly opulent full-length portraits. Princess Henrietta of Lorraine Attended by a Page, bigger than lifesize, presents an image of rank and political importance; she might be wearing widow's weeds, but what weeds! She does appear unnaturally tall, but that only enhances her significance.

Wealth and status: a major preoccupation in Genoa, a city built on trade, shipping and finance. This woman, possibly Maria Chiavari Durazzo, is attired to dazzle: Her striking peacock-blue dress has no less than 14 lines of gold braid and she has a very sizeable ruff. Again, she appears to have the height of a basketball player.... Feet on an Oriental carpet, she sits between huge columns, symbols of stability. 

Impressed? We were! A contender for best exhibition of the year. 

Practicalities

Van Dyck, the European is on at the Palazzo Ducale in Genoa until July 19. It's open Mondays from 1400 to 1900 and the rest of the week from 1000 to 1900 (Fridays until 2000). Full-price tickets cost a standard 15 euros; you can book them online here with a timeslot, though there's an extra 1.50-euro charge for doing so. Tickets allowing you not to specify a timeslot cost a couple of euros more. There was no ticket queue when we went on a wet Sunday lunchtime, though we were told they were seeing fewer visitors than usual that day because of a major event in the city. We spent nearly two hours in the exhibition. 

The Palazzo Ducale is situated on the eastern edge of Genoa's historic medieval and Renaissance centre, backing on to the Piazza De Ferrari. It's about 20 minutes walk from either of the main rail stations in Genoa, Brignole or Piazza Principe; you could take the single-line Metro from either to De Ferrari station. 

Images

Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641), Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria, 1632 or 1633, Archbishopric of Olomouc, Czech Republic 

Anthony van Dyck, Princesses Elizabeth and Anne, 1637, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh 
Anthony van Dyck, Self-Portrait, 1615-17, Rubenshuis, Antwerp
Anthony van Dyck, Mary Ruthven (Lady van Dyck), 1640, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid

Anthony van Dyck, Samson and Delilah, c. 1618-20, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London

Anthony van Dyck, Young General in Armour, c. 1622-25, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Anthony van Dyck, Alessandro, Vincenzo and Francesco Maria Giustiniani Longo, c. 1626-27, National Gallery, London

Anthony van Dyck, Jacob de Witte and His Wife Maria Nutius, c. 1628-29, The Phoebus Foundation, Antwerp  

Anthony van Dyck, Portrait of a Genoese Lady, Possibly Maria Chiavari Durazzo, c. 1626-27, Collezione Odescalchi, Rome