DOI Kapitel:
The Life of Anthony Van Dyck
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62914#0024
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LIFE OF VAN DYCK.
who may have been the prime mover, or the active
agent in events, when represented, naturally revives in
the mind of an enlightened spectator the circumstances
of the times in which he lived, and of which he was the
hero or the director.
Of the several branches of art already alluded to in
this work, that of portraiture, although the least in-
teresting, when considered abstractedly, is by far the
most valuable in its historical relations. The admiration
and universality it has acquired, have offered prospects
of wealth to every adventurer of the pencil; but although
multitudes have essayed the practice, very few have
succeeded to such a degree as to give interest to the
object, in the absence of the first cause of its production.
Among the few who have just claims to eminence in
this department is Anthony Van Dyck, whose his-
tory and works form the subject of the succeeding
pages.
This artist was born at Antwerp, in the year 1599.
Of his parents little is known more than that his father
was a painter on glass, and his mother obtained some
celebrity for her ingenuity in needle-work, and cutting
figures and other objects in paper. His commencement
in the art was under Van Baelen, a fellow pupil with
Rubens, when the latter was in the school of Adam Van
Oordt. With this master he probably remained about
two years; and in that time acquired sufficient know-
ledge of the art to appreciate the superior excellence of
the works of Rubens, into whose school he obtained
entrance in the year 1615. His previous knowledge in
painting facilitated his progress, and rendered his pencil
immediately available to his new master, whose intel-
LIFE OF VAN DYCK.
who may have been the prime mover, or the active
agent in events, when represented, naturally revives in
the mind of an enlightened spectator the circumstances
of the times in which he lived, and of which he was the
hero or the director.
Of the several branches of art already alluded to in
this work, that of portraiture, although the least in-
teresting, when considered abstractedly, is by far the
most valuable in its historical relations. The admiration
and universality it has acquired, have offered prospects
of wealth to every adventurer of the pencil; but although
multitudes have essayed the practice, very few have
succeeded to such a degree as to give interest to the
object, in the absence of the first cause of its production.
Among the few who have just claims to eminence in
this department is Anthony Van Dyck, whose his-
tory and works form the subject of the succeeding
pages.
This artist was born at Antwerp, in the year 1599.
Of his parents little is known more than that his father
was a painter on glass, and his mother obtained some
celebrity for her ingenuity in needle-work, and cutting
figures and other objects in paper. His commencement
in the art was under Van Baelen, a fellow pupil with
Rubens, when the latter was in the school of Adam Van
Oordt. With this master he probably remained about
two years; and in that time acquired sufficient know-
ledge of the art to appreciate the superior excellence of
the works of Rubens, into whose school he obtained
entrance in the year 1615. His previous knowledge in
painting facilitated his progress, and rendered his pencil
immediately available to his new master, whose intel-