About this artwork
This strikingly large drawing is a preparatory study for the painted full-length Portrait of Henrietta of Lorraine (Kenwood House, London). Henrietta fled when French troops approached Nancy, the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, and took refuge in Brussels. This drawing merely outlines the composition, focussing on the pose of the sitter and a summary of the costume. This corresponds with Van Dyck’s practice as described by the French artist and writer Roger de Piles in 1708. The painter would ‘put the sitter into some attitude he had before contrived; and on grey paper, with white and black crayons, he designed, in a quarter of an hour, his shape and drapery’.
Updated before 2020
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artist:
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title:Study for the Portrait of Henrietta of Lorraine (1611-1660
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date created:1634
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materials:Black chalk, traces of white chalk on light gray (probably formerly blue) paper
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measurements:Rounded top: 52.90 x 30.20 cm
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object type:
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credit line:David Laing Bequest to the Royal Scottish Academy transferred 1910
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accession number:D 1738
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gallery:
Sir Anthony van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck
Van Dyck is perhaps most famous for the grand and elegant portraits he painted of the British aristocracy when he was court painter to King Charles I. He trained in Antwerp, and worked in Rubens’s studio as an assistant. His outstanding talents were recognised and encouraged by Rubens, who...
