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Pomponne II de Bellièvre

Photo: Paul Macapia

Pomponne II de Bellièvre

1638-39

Anthony van Dyck

Flemish, 1599-1641

Van Dyck was a prodigy who became a full-fledged master at nineteen. To his lifelong frustration, his fluid brush was most often applied to flattering portraits for international clients. After nearly a decade at the court of England's monarch Charles I, where his pleasing manner and graceful, complimentary portraits won him acclaim, Van Dyck sought to receive commissions in France. In this portrait of the French ambassador to the British court, the simple composition and austere costume are atypical of Van Dyck's sumptuous English work, but consistent with French taste of that period. Whether this painting signals a stylistic shift for the artist is unknown, because shortly after he painted it Van Dyck died at the age of forty-two.
Oil on canvas
54 x 43 1/2 in. (137.2 x 110.5 cm)
Frame: 64 × 53 × 3 1/8 in. (162.6 × 134.6 × 7.9 cm)
Purchased with a major grant from an anonymous donor; additional funds provided by Louise Raymond Owens; Norman and Amelia Davis; Oliver T. and Carol Erickson; Seattle Art Museum Guild; Pauline Ederer Bolster and Arthur F. Ederer in memory of their sister, Milli Ederer Kastner; Mr. and Mrs. James D. Burns; gift in memory of Andrew Price by Mrs. Mary Price and their family; bequest of Mr. and Mrs. Archibald Stewart Downey; bequest of Charles Moseley Clark; Max R. Schweitzer; gift of Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Stimson, Thomas D. Stimson Memorial Collection; Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection; Silver Anniversary Fund; Margaret E. Fuller Purchase Fund; Seattle Art Museum Purchase Fund, by exchange
98.15
Provenance: Sir George Donaldson, England, to February 27, 1893; Sir John Charles Robinson, England, February 27, 1893-April 19, 1902; S.T. Smith, April 19, 1902-unknown date; private collection, Massachusetts, unknown date-January 26, 1946; Felix Kramarsky, January 26, 1946-January 9, 1959; private collection, Florida, 1959-1994; [Artemis Fine Arts, Inc., New York and London, by 1998]; purchased from Artemis by Seattle Art Museum, March 5, 1998
Photo: Paul Macapia
location
Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryNew York, New York, The Frick Collection, Anthony van Dyck as a Portraitist, Mar. 1 - Jun. 5, 2016. Cat. no. 88, reproduced p. 237.

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