In April 1632 King Charles I (1600-49) succeeded in attracting Van Dyck, in demand as a painter of religious and mythological pictures as well as of portraits in Antwerp, to London. In July of that year the artist, now Principal Painter in Ordinary to their Majesties, was knighted at St James's. From that time he was to have a virtual monopoly of portraits of the king and queen on the scale of life, having rendered the work of his predecessors at court old-fashioned. In a series of huge canvases strategically placed at the end of great galleries in the king's various residences, he displayed the power and splendour of the British monarchy and of the early Stuart dynasty, modernising traditional themes of royal panegyric. (http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/d/dyck_van/index.html)
Charles I of England and Henrietta of France before 1632
收藏于 Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence作者: ngsunyu 时间: 2010-9-4 13:33
《查理一世狩獵》Charles I at the Hunt 约1635年, 收藏于卢浮宫
One of the masterpieces of the artist's English period, dating from about 1635. It was paid for by the king in 1638, and was meant to be a portrait of the monarch "at the hunt," hence his aristocratic - and therefore elegant and distinguished - rather than specifically royal appearance (there are no monarchic insignia, merely an inscription). An unforgettable lesson in pictorial harmony between human figures (the king and equerries), animals (the horse), and landscape background.
As the painter noted in a memorandum written in French in about 1638, he portrayed the king "at the hunt." Van Dyck, a former assistant of Rubens whose equestrian portraits were profoundly influenced by Titian, invented a highly innovative royal iconography here. The painting is not, strictly speaking, an official royal portrait. Charles I has no doubt just dismounted for a short rest while two pages are care for his horse. The king is portrayed here as a gracious gentleman, an elegant courtier like the one Baldassare Castiglione described in his famous treatise.
But this elegant portrait, despite its apparent casualness, is nevertheless a statement of royal grandeur. As the Latin inscription, Carolus.I.REX Magnae Britanniae, proclaims, Charles I reigns supreme over Great Britain, hence over the united kingdoms of England and Scotland.
The king's costume is, of course, far too luxurious for a day's hunting: wide-brimmed hat, elaborate turned-down boots, and above all the magnificent doublet on whose silvery fabric the painter displays his mastery of shimmering light effects. He artfully enhances the figure of the king by placing him to one side, well-lit and standing out against a bright sky, while his servants are in the shade on the right. The king is looking out over a coastal landscape illustrating his kingdom's diverse riches. His overall pose is a subtle compromise between gentlemanly nonchalance and regal assurance: one hand proudly on his hip, the other resting on his walking stick, as noble an attribute as the sword at his side. The low-angle viewpoint accentuates the king's haughty expression.
The portrait is thought to have been painted around 1635, ten years before the king's tragic death. Van Dyck had left Antwerp for London, where he had become official portrait painter to the English court. His many brilliant portraits of the British aristocracy laid the foundations of the English school. His style, oscillating between aristocratic reserve and sumptuous elegance, influenced Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough. It is not known exactly how this picture found its way to France in the 17th century, but we do know that Countess Du Barry acquired it for her chateau at Louveciennes and later sold it to Louis XVI, who would suffer the same fate as Charles I. (http://www.louvre.fr/llv/oeuvres ... 117&bmLocale=en)作者: ngsunyu 时间: 2010-9-4 13:42
《查理一世狩獵》Charles I at the Hunt 约1635年, 收藏于卢浮宫
查理一世的騎馬像 Equestrian Portrait of Charles I, 1637 年 ~1638 年, 收藏于 倫敦 國家畫廊
這幅氣派的國王肖像, 是描繪同時扮演軍事和棈神領袖的查理一世, 騎著強壯優美的駿馬, 身穿盔甲的姿態。姿勢是仿 照英格蘭國璽上描繪的君主出征之姿, 查理脖子上掛的是代表最高榮譽的嘉特 (Garter)勳章。這幅畫對於國王來說是一件最佳的宣傳作品, 因此被掛在宮殿 長長的迴廊轉角處, 畫家在設計畫的構圖時, 便立意要帶給接近的人壓倒性的印象。畫中樹上掛著一塊精緻的雕板, 上面用拉丁文寫著「Carolus Rex Magnae Britaniae」, 意思是「大不列顛國王查理」。 (http://vr.theatre.ntu.edu.tw/fin ... ck/vandyck-1637.htm)
In 1625, King Charles I (1600 - 1649) succeeded his father James I as king of Great Britain and Ireland. Van Dyck became his court painter in 1632, and created images of him which expressed the king's belief in his divine right to govern.
This portrait probably dates from the later years of Van Dyck's English period, about 1637, not long before the outbreak of the Civil War which led to the king's execution in 1649.
The Gallery's picture shows Charles I wearing the medallion of a Garter Sovereign, riding as if at the head of his knights. He is dressed in armour and holding a commander's baton. The magnificent horse, and the subdued but rich colours of the saddlecloth, landscape and the page holding the helmet complement the elegance of the rider. (http://www.nationalgallery.org.u ... rtrait-of-charles-i)
This likeness of the king on horseback takes as its point of departure the archetypal image on the obverse of all the Great Seals of England: the sovereign as warrior. King Charles is wearing Greenwich-made armour and holding a commander's baton. A page carries his helmet. In keeping with the imperial claim of the inscription (in Latin on the tablet tied to the tree in this portrait: CAROLUS REX MAGNAE BRITANIAE - Charles King of Great Britain), the pose and woodland setting echo Titian's equestrian portrait of the Emperor Charles V at Muhlberg. (Titian's painting itself recalled the famous Roman bronze of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius on horseback.) Over his armour Charles wears a gold locket bearing the image of Saint George and the Dragon, the so-called Lesser George. He wore it constantly; it contained a portrait of his wife, and was with him the day he died. Here, however, it identifies him with the Order of the Garter of which Saint George was patron. As Garter Sovereign he is riding, like Charles V, at the head of his chivalrous knights in defence of the faith. In a profound sense the portrait is a visual assertion of Charles's claim to Divine Kingship. Albeit high above our heads - the horizon line ensures that our viewpoint is roughly at the level of his stirrup - his face is undistorted by foreshortening. Van Dyck's three-quarter view refines his features, and he bestrides his horse with a remote air of noble contemplation. (http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/d/dyck_van/index.html)