'The Anatomy of Portraiture' to Open Spring 2016 at the Frick

Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641), one of the most celebrated and influential portraitists of all time, enjoyed an international career that took him from his native Flanders to Italy, France, and, ultimately, the court of Charles I in England. Van Dyck's elegant manner and convincing evocation of a sitter's inner life-whether real or imagined-made him the favorite portraitist of many of the most powerful and interesting figures of the seventeenth century. His sitters-poets, duchesses, painters, and generals-represent the social and artistic elite of his age, and his achievement in portraiture marked a turning point in the history of European painting. Van Dyck: The Anatomy of Portraiture, on view only at New York's Frick Collection, looks comprehensively at the artist's activity and process as a portraitist. It is also the first major exhibition devoted to his work to be held in the United States in more than twenty years. Through approximately one hundred works, the show explores the versatility and inventiveness of a portrait specialist, the stylistic development of a draftsman and painter, and the efficiency and genius of an artist in action. Organized chronologically around the different geographic chapters of Van Dyck's career, the exhibition documents the artist's development from an ambitious young apprentice into the most sought-after portrait painter in Europe. The show also includes a small selection of comparative works by Van Dyck's contemporaries, including Rubens, Jordaens, and Lely, and a special installation of the Iconographie, Van Dyck's celebrated series of portrait prints. Lenders to the exhibition include the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the British Museum and National Gallery in London, the Prado Museum in Madrid, and major private collectors such as the Duke of Devonshire and the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry.

Van Dyck: The Anatomy of Portraiture was organized for The Frick Collection by Stijn Alsteens, Curator, Department of Drawings and Prints, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and Adam Eaker, Guest Curator, The Frick Collection. An illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition. Principal support is provided by an anonymous donation with additional leadership contributions from The Honorable and Mrs. W. L. Lyons Brown and an anonymous gift in memory of Melvin R. Seiden. Major support has also been provided by Melinda and Paul Sullivan, The Christian Humann Foundation, Aso O. Tavitian, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, John and Constance Birkelund, Mrs. Daniel Cowin, Margot and Jerry Bogert, Gilbert and Ildiko Butler, Fiduciary Trust Company International, Mrs. Henry Clay Frick II, the General Representation of the Government of Flanders to the USA, Howard S. Marks and Nancy Marks, and Dr. and Mrs. James S. Reibel, with additional contributions from Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Royce, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Barbara G. Fleischman, Helen-Mae and Seymour Askin, George and Michael Eberstadt in memory of Vera and Walter Eberstadt, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Otto Naumann and Heidi D. Shafranek, the Robert Lehman Foundation, and an anonymous gift in memory of Charles Ryskamp.

Image: Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641), Mary, Lady van Dyck, née Ruthven, ca. 1640, oil on canvas, Museo Nacional del Prado