Unknown

Pair of Self-Portraits by Peter P. Rubens and Anton van Dyck Gilded Frames XIX

circa 1850s

Henry Hugford (1695-1771), ascribed. Rare pair of scagliola panels, landscape views with ruins, Italy, half of the 18th Century. With their original carved wood frames, lacquered a...

Scuola di Anversa Attribuito a Gerard Thomas (Anversa 1663-1720) Lo studio del medico Gerard Thomas è un pittore fiammingo di epoca tardo barocca. Apprendista nel 1688, due volte ...

Fascinating preparatory sketch, oil on walnut wood, depicting "The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence," Venetian school, 18th century. Very good condition. Measurements 13 x 11 cm

"The Baptism of Christ," richly carved wooden bas-relief, Italy, 17th century. Carved into the frame, richly carved with branches of leaves and fruit, are the figures of Christ and ...

Peter Paul Rubens (After) - Helena (Helene) Fourment with her Son Francis (Frans) Very decorative Painting. Oil on canvas. Unsigned. Dimensions include the frame. The painting and...

18th Centruy Dutch replica of the Self Portrait of Sir Peter Pail Reubens, original painted by Reubens in 1623, oil on canvas. With original hand carved and gold gilded frame. It has...

This fine oil on canvas, attributable to a late 17th-century Venetian artist, is a coeval copy of the famous portrait by Pieter Paul Rubens, documented in the collections of Cosimo I...

Aftrer Anthony VAN DYCK - maybe Studio (1599, Antwerp – 1641, London) Flemish Double Portrait of George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham (1628-1687) & Lord Francis Villiers (1629-1648) Oil on Canvas 170 x 147 cm Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641) No painter has done more to define an era than Anthony van Dyck. He spent only seven and a half years of his short life (1599- 1641) in England. He grew up in Antwerp, where his precocious talent was recognised by Peter Paul Rubens, the greatest painter of his age. He worked in Rubens’s studio and imitated his style as a religious artist, painting biblical scenes redolent of the lush piety of the counter-reformation. But soon he was on the move. In 1620, he visited London for a few months, long enough to paint a history picture, The Continence of Scipio, for the royal favourite, George Villiers, Marquess of Buckingham, and a portrait of his other English patron, the great art collector, Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel. After a stint in Italy, making imposing portraits of the wealthy aristocracy and sketching and copying works by Titian, he returned to the Spanish Netherlands in 1627, becoming court artist to Archduchess Isabella before departing for The Hague in 1631 to paint the Dutch ruler Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. Charles I’s invitation in 1632 led Van Dyck back to London where he was knighted, paid an annual salary of £200 and installed in a house in Blackfriars with a special jetty at which the royal barge might tie up when the King was visiting his studio. By this time Van Dyck was recognised as the leading court painter in Europe, with Velazquez at the court of Philip IV of Spain his only rival. He also excelled as a superbly observant painter of children and dogs. Van Dyck’s notoriety in depicting children led to the introduction of groups of children without their parents as a new genre into English painting (amongst other new genres). For the next 300 years, Van Dyck was the major influence on English portraiture. Nearly all the great 18th Century portraitists, from Pompeo Batoni and Allan Ramsay to Thomas Gainsborough and Joshua Reynolds, copied Van Dyck’s costumes, poses and compositions. George Duke of Buckingham & his brother Francis Villiers Painted in 1635, this double portrait was originally commissioned by Charles I, who raised the two brothers after their father, George Villiers, was assassinated in 1628. Together with their sister, Lady Mary Villiers, they enjoyed the King’s favour absolutely. Francis whose absolute ‘inimitable handsomeness’ was noted by Marvell (who was killed in a skirmish near Kingston upon Thames). The young duke who commanded a regiment of horse at the Battle of Worcester, remained closely associated with Charles II, held a number of high offices after the Restoration and was one of the most cynical and brilliant members of the King’s entourage, immortalised as ‘Zimri’ in Dryden’s Absalom and Achitopbel. As a young man he had sold his father’s great collection of pictures in the Spanish Netherlands, many of them to the Archduke Leopold Willhelm. Painted for Charles I and placed near the portrait of their sister in the Gallery at St James’ Palace. The handling of both costumes is very rich, and the heads are very carefully and sensitively worked. That of the younger boy in particular is more solidly built up than the lower part of the figure. A preparatory drawing for the younger boy is in the British Museum. There are copies at, e.g., Highclere Castle...