This landmark catalogue is published for the400th anniversary of the birth of Anthony vanDyck, one of the most celebrated Flemishpainters of the 17th century. Coinciding with themajor exhibition of Van Dyck's paintings at the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten,Antwerp and the Royal Academy of Arts,London.

This landmark catalogue is published for the400th anniversary of the birth of Anthony vanDyck, one of the most celebrated Flemishpainters of the 17th century. Coinciding with themajor exhibition of Van Dyck's paintings at the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten,Antwerp and the Royal Academy of Arts,London, this publication contains over 100 of-Van Dyck's masterpieces, including many rarelyseen works drawn from the British RoyalCollection, private collections, and museumsand churches in Europe and around the world.

Van Dyck was born in Antwerp. Hisexceptional talent was quickly recognized by thecity's most eminent painter, Peter Paul Rubens,whose pupil he became. After a brief periodworking for the court of King James in England,he traveled to Italy eager to study the work ofTitian. His six-year stay was spent mostly inGenoa, where he was much in demand by thecity's wealthy merchants as a portraitist. VanDyck returned to Antwerp in I627 with hisreputation firmly established, and over the nextfive years produced some of his most brilliantwork, including religious and mythologicalsubjects as well as portraits of the city fathers,before accepting Charles I's offer to work asCourt Painter in England. He remained inEngland until his death, transforming portraiturein England and immortalizing on canvas ageneration caught up in the tragedy of theEnglish Civil War.

Van Dyck's genius as a portrait painter hasbeen rivaled by few other artists. He paintedkings and courtiers, musicians, painters and friends, with a sympathy and understanding that is evident in every brushstroke, while his ability to capture the fleeting nature of childhood is unsurpassed.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

FOREWORD

PATRONS AND COMMITTEES

Essays

CHRISTOPHER BROWN

Introduction

KATLIJNE VAN DER STIGHELEN

Van Dyck's First Antwerp Period

Prologue to a Baroque Life Story

PIERO BOCCARDO

Genoa and the Genoese at the Time of Van Dyck

GIOVANNI MENDOLA

Van Dyck in Sicily

HANS VL1EGHE

Images of Piety and Vanity

Van Dyck in the Southern Netherlands

MALCOLM ROGERS

Van Dyck in England

Catalogue

VRANS BAUDOUIN, CHRISTOPHER BROOWN,

JUDY EGERTON AND HANS VLIEGHE 92

Chronology

KATLIJNE VAN DER STIGHELEN,

HANS VLIEGHE AND KATHARINE GIBSON

BIBLIOGRAPHY

LENDERS TO THE EXHIBITION

PHOTOGRAPHIC CREDITS

INDEX