"Triple Portrait of Charles I" by van Dyck: Riddle and Symbol of the Royal Order

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Anthony Van Dyck was one of the most influential artists of the 17th century. He created a new style for Flemish art and founded the English school of painting. The portrait of the English king Charles I is one of the most significant paintings by the master. What is the mystery of the triple portrait?

Artist biography

Anthony van Dyck was born on March 22, 1599 in the family of a wealthy fabric merchant. Van Dyck came from a dynasty of craftsmen, including his paternal grandfather (artist) and his mother, Maria Kuyper, who was an accomplished embroiderer. His father François van Dyck turned out to be a wise man, having spotted his son's artistic talent in time and sent him to study with Hendrik van Wallen. At the age of 14, Antonis received a monetary gift from his father to open his own workshop. He completed his first works of art at the age of 15, and three years later he was admitted to the Guild of St. Luke.

Van Dyck's idols - Rubens and Titian

Anthony was lucky not only with a caring father, but also with teachers: van Dyck was lucky to get experience from Rubens himself - the greatest of the Flemish painters. He worked with Rubens van Dijk for 3 years, during which he continued to paint his own canvases and improve his skills. Rubens' stylistic influence can be seen throughout van Dyck's work, although he never adopted the classical style that Rubens preferred. The latter has repeatedly said that Van Dijk was the most talented artist he ever taught. The rare talent of Antonis and creative jealousy of his teacher did not allow van Dyck to remain in the shadow of Rubens, he wanted to become more famous and more experienced than him. By the way, Rubens himself was afraid of competition with van Dyck. Subsequently, the young artist went in search of creative pursuits. Having visited many countries, Antonis stayed in Italy for 6 years, inspired by the skill of Italian artists. Titin became a real idol for van Dyck, whose techniques and artistic principles were reflected in the work of Antonis himself. His love for Titian's paintings was so significant that van Dijk spent all his royalties on the purchase of paintings by his idol.

In 1632, van Dijk moved to England, where the passionate collector King Charles I appointed him as his court painter, received a decent salary for his work, married and became a famous painter. Anthony van Dyck died in 1641 and was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral.

Portrait heritage

Van Dyck's greatest legacy lies in portraiture, which he significantly modernized for future generations. He is especially known for bringing a unique informal composition to his portraits and for his flattering rendering of characters. In addition, he brought fantasy and ingenuity to the image of the clothes of his models. Van Dyck's beard, collar and costume became very fashionable at the beginning of the 17th century and were immortalized in his paintings. To date, more than 500 portraits of van Dyck have been preserved, in addition to many copies have survived. No other artist of that time surpassed van Dyck in the image of shimmering white shades of satin, smooth blue silk or rich scarlet velvet (apparently, the role of his father - a successful merchant of expensive fabrics).

"Triple portrait of Charles I": mystery and symbol of the order

The Triple Portrait of Charles I is a portrait of Charles I depicting the king from three points of view: full front, profile and three-quarters. Written in 1635-1636. The works that van Dijk wrote for King Charles I are still revered as masterpieces, even almost 400 years after the death of the latter. This portrait, now one of the jewels of the Royal Collection, was originally a work of art sent to the sculptor Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini in Rome. This is the meaning of creating such an extraordinary portrait. Pope Urban VIII commissioned him to make a bust of King Charles, which the Pope will present to the Catholic Queen Henrietta Maria as a symbol of the improvement of Anglo-Roman Catholic relations. The king commissioned his favorite artist, van Dyck, to make a portrait, which will be a kind of work scheme for the sculptor. Three points of view have been chosen to enable the master to create a three-dimensional creation. For the bust he created, Bernini was awarded a £ 800 diamond ring in 1638.

The colors of the costumes and the patterns of the lace collars are different in each portrait, although the Order's blue stripe is present in all three. The King's Ribbon Order is an honor accorded to all the monarchs of the United Kingdom, representing their great chivalry. This emblem is not only a decorative decoration. It is a symbol of the monarch's sovereignty over the lands of England, Ireland and Scotland. It is because of its important symbolism that the order is on all three profiles. Van Dyck embodied in a portrait the character of the king and unshakable hope for a positive future, subsequently giving the sculptor Bernini everything he needed to create a marble bust. As for the uniqueness of the idea, van Dijk was not the ancestor of this sample. Presumably, Van Dyck was influenced by Lotto with his painting "Portrait of a Man in Three Angles", which at that time was in the collection of Charles I.

The mystery of the triple portrait lies in the legend that during the transportation of Bernini's creation to Charles I, a marble bust (created on the basis of a portrait of van Dyck) was stained with red paints and this was an omen that Charles I himself was soon executed. Indeed, in the course of the civil wars, Charles I was defeated, tried by Parliament and executed on January 30, 1649 in London. The bust itself was a great success with the king and queen.