Anthony van Dyck, 'Portrait of Cornelis van der Geest', about 1620

Portrait of Cornelis van der Geest

Anthony van Dyck

Room 21

About the work

Overview

Cornelis van der Geest was one of the most prominent art collectors of his day, so this commission must have been extremely important to Anthony van Dyck, who was only 21 at the time.

He has taken a relatively conservative approach, using a traditional format: a close up of just the sitter’s face, framed by a white ruff. But his brushwork is virtuosic. For the hair and beard he employed long, wispy strokes, while elsewhere he used much thicker paint – to add texture to the edges of the ruff, for example. The moisture in the sitter’s eyes is evoked with delicate flecks of white. The positioning of van der Geest’s head and gaze is also subtly effective. He looks very slightly back at us, as though he has just reacted to our presence.

The painting was later extended, almost certainly not by van Dyck, to bust length, and showed part of the sitter’s hand. The large frame now covers the additions.

In-depth

This portrait was made in about 1620, when Anthony van Dyck was only 21 years old – the rising star of his generation, and soon to become one of the best-known portrait painters in Europe. The sitter, on the other hand, is Cornelis van der Geest, who was 65 and a grand old man of the arts.

A prosperous and influential Antwerp spice merchant, van der Geest was one of the most prominent collectors of paintings of his day. He was so revered that Van Dyck’s famous teacher Rubens described him as ‘the best of men and my oldest friend, who, since my youth, has been my never-failing patron, whose whole life showed a love and admiration of painting’. And if we doubted Rubens’s word, a painting of the interior of van der Geest’s house in 1615 by Willem van Haecht (now in the Rubenshuis, Antwerp) shows his extensive collection of pictures by some of the most important Flemish artists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

So for the young Van Dyck, in the early stages of a career in portrait painting, a commission from such an influential patron must have been extremely important. He certainly rises to the occasion, though not by showing off a radically new approach to the composition, as some young artists might have done. Instead he has taken – or perhaps van der Geest asked him to take – a relatively conservative approach using a traditional format: a close up of the sitter’s face framed by a white ruff. What sets the painting apart is Van Dyck’s virtuoso brushwork.

For the hair and beard he employed long, wispy strokes, while elsewhere he used much thicker paint – to add texture to the edges of the ruff, for example, or for the edges of the lower eye lids, which are modelled in three dimensions with thick ridges of paint. The moisture in van der Geest’s eyes is evoked with delicate flecks of white paint. The positioning of van der Geest’s head and gaze is also subtly effective. He looks very slightly back and down at us, enhancing the illusion that he has reacted to the viewer and that we are encountering a real person.

The picture we see today is somewhat different to what left Van Dyck’s workshop. X-ray photographs show that, instead of the plain dark background, the portrait was originally set in a simulated oval frame painted to look as though it were made of porphyry (a type of red stone). This was a device which Van Dyck used in at least one other picture around this time (Portrait of a Man, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts, Brussels). Part of the white ruff has also been painted over by a later hand; it was originally higher at the back, up around the level of his right eye on one side and above his ear on the other.

Probably less than 15 years after it was made, new pieces of oak were added to the sides and bottom, and the painting was extended into a bust-length portrait which also showed his left arm. This extension was almost certainly not done by Van Dyck. The large frame now covers the additions so that they are not apparent.

Key facts

Details

Full title: Portrait of Cornelis van der Geest
Artist: Anthony van Dyck
Artist dates: 1599 - 1641
Date made: about 1620
Medium and support: oil on wood
Dimensions: 37.5 × 32.5 cm
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1824
Inventory number: NG52
Location: Room 21
Collection: Main Collection
Previous owners: John Julius Angerstein
Frame: 17th-century Dutch Frame with Later Interventions

Provenance

Liss (of Antwerp) sale, Christie’s, 27 February (= 2nd day) 1796 (99) bt. Pratbernon for 230 gns.; still in his possession 26 March, 1797. Bryan sale, Peter Coxe, 18 May (= 2nd day) 1798 (51) bt. Angerstein for 340 gns.; exh. at the B.I., 1806, for copying; exh. at the B. I., 1815 (9); purchased with the Angerstein collection, 1824.

Additional information

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Gregory Martin, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Flemish School: circa 1600–circa 1900’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Exhibition history

2009

Room for Art in Seventeenth-Century Antwerp

Rubenshuis

28 November 2009 - 28 February 2010

Mauritshuis

25 March 2010 - 27 June 2010
2012

The Young van Dyck [2012]

Museo Nacional del Prado

20 November 2012 - 31 March 2013

Bibliography

1796

J. Christie, A Catalogue of… a Valuable Collection of Cabinet Pictures … the Property of Mons. Liss, of Antwerp, London, 26 February 1796 - 27 February 1796
1798

Peter Coxe, Burrell, and Foster, A Catalogue of All that Valuable and Magnificent Collection…..the Property of Mr. Bryan Which will be Sold by Auction by Peter Coxe, Burrell and Foster at Mr. Bryan's Celebrated Gallery in Pall Mall, London, 17 May 1798 - 19 May 1798
1815

Catalogue of Pictures by Rubens, Rembrandt, Vandyke, and Other Artists of the Flemish and Dutch Schools: With Which the Proprietors Have Favoured the British Institution for the Gratification of the Public and for the Benefit of the Fine Arts in General, London 1815
1815

R. Smirke, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Pictures Now Exhibiting at the British Institution, London 1815
1823

J. Young, A Catalogue of the Celebrated Collection of Pictures of the Late John Julius Angerstein, Esq: Containing a Finished Etching of Every Picture, and Accompanied with Historical and Biographical Notices, London 1823
1824

W. Buchanan, Memoirs of Painting: With a Chronological History of the Importation of Pictures by the Great Masters into England Since the French Revolution, London 1824
1824

P.G. Patmore, British Galleries of Art, London 1824
1828

H. Walpole, Anecdotes of Painting in England, with Some Account of the Principal Artists, and Incidental Notes on Other Arts, ed. J. Dallaway, 5 vols, London 1828
1829

J. Smith, A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters: In Which is Included a Short Biographical Notice of the Artists, with a Copious Description of Their Principal Pictures […], 9 vols, London 1829-1842
1832

W.Y. Ottley, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery, London 1832
1836

J.D. Passavant, Tour of a German Artist in England, London 1836
1837

G.F. Waagen, Kunstwerke und Künstler in England und Paris, vol. 1, Berlin 1837
1838

G.F. Waagen, Works of Art and Artists in England, trans. H. Lloyd, vol. 2, London 1838
1842

Mrs Jameson, A Handbook to the Public Galleries of Art in and Near London, London 1842
1843

F. Summerly, Felix Summerly's Hand Book for the National Gallery, London 1843
1845

G. Foggo, A Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery with Critical Notes, London 1845
1847

R.N. Wornum, Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery, London 1847
1854

G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated Mss. […], vol. 2, trans. E. Eastlake, London 1854
1864

National Gallery, Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery: Foreign Schools, London 1864
1864

R.N. Wornum, Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of the Pictures in the National Gallery, ed. C.L. Eastlake, London 1864
1867

A.A. Lavice, Revue des musées d'Angleterre, Paris 1867
1878

H. Blackburn, Illustrated Catalogue to the National Gallery: Foreign Schools, London 1878
1882

J. Guiffrey, Antoine van Dyck: Sa vie et son oeuvre, Paris 1882
1887

'The Grosvenor Exhibition (Second Notice)', The Athenaeum, 1887
1887

J.A. Blaikie, 'Van Dyck', Magazine of Art, X, 1887, pp. 198-206
1888

E.T. Cook, A Popular Handbook to the National Gallery Including, by Special Permission, Notes Collected from the Works of Mr. Ruskin, London 1888
1891

'Van Dyck's Gevartius', Eigen Haard: Geïllustreerd Volkstijdschrift, XVII/25, 1891, pp. 388-90
1900

L.H. Cust, Anthony van Dyck: An Historical Study of his Life and Works, London 1900
1909

E. Schaeffer, Van Dyck: Des Meisters Gemälde, Stuttgart 1909
1928

H. Rosenbaum, Der Junge Van Dyck, Munich 1928
1928

W.T. Whitley, Art in England 1800-1820, Cambridge 1928
1931

G. Glück, Van Dyck, des Meisters Gemälde, Stuttgart 1931
1934

W. von Bode, Rembrandt und seine Zeitgenossen: Charakterbilder der Großen Meister der Holländischen und Vlämischen Malerschule im Siebzehnten Jahrhundert, Leipzig 1934
1950

L. van Puyvelde, Van Dyck, Brussels 1950
1954

G. Gepts, 'Tafereelmaker Michiel Vriendt, leverancier van Rubens', Jaarboek Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten Antwerpen, 1954, pp. 83ff
1957

L. Baldass, 'Development of van Dyck's Portrait Style', Gazette des beaux-arts, L, 1957, pp. 264-5
1957

J. Held, 'Artis Pictoriae Amator: An Antwerp Art Patron and his Collection', Gazette des beaux-arts, L, 1957, pp. 53-84
1959

A.J.J. Delen, 'Cornelis van der Geest: Een groot figuur in de geschiedenis', Antwerpen, V, 1959, pp. 57-71
1962

H. Vey, Die Zeichnungen Anton van Dycks, Brussels 1962
1970

G. Martin, The Flemish School, circa 1600-circa 1900, London 1970
1972

F. Baudouin, 'Le "Cabinet d'amateur" de Corneille van der Geest, peint par Guillaume van Haecht', Antwerpen, 1972, pp. 191-203
1972

F. Badouin, 'Le Cabinet d'amateur de Corneille van der Geest, peint par Guillaume van Haecht', in F. Badouin, Rubens et son Siècle, Antwerp 1972, pp. 191-203
1978

A. Macintyre and K. Garlick (eds), The Diary of Joseph Farington, vol. 5, New Haven 1978-1984
1982

H. Brigstocke and W. Buchanan, William Buchanan and the 19th Century Art Trade: 100 Letters to his Agents in London and Italy, London 1982
1982

J. Held, 'Artis Pictoriae Amator: An Antwerp Art Patron and His Collection', in A.W. Lowenthal, D. Rosand and J. Walsh (eds), Rubens and his Circle: Studies by Julius S. Held, Princeton 1982, pp. 35-64
1986

Martin, Gregory, National Gallery Catalogues: The Flemish School, circa 1600 - circa 1900, London 1986
1987

C. Brown, The National Gallery Schools of Painting: Flemish Paintings, London 1987
1988

E. Larsen, The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck, Freren 1988
1990

J. van Damme, 'De Antwerpse tafereelmakers en hun merken: Identificatie en betekenis', Jaarboek van het Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerpen, XIX, 1990, pp. 193-236
1995

J. Brown, Kings and Connoisseurs: Collecting Art in Seventeenth-Century Europe, New Haven 1995
1999

H. Vlieghe and C. Brown, Van Dyck 1599-1641, Antwerp and London 1999
2001

C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
2004

H. Vey et al., Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven 2004
2004

B. Bryant, G.F. Watts Portraits: Fame and Beauty in Victorian Society (exh. cat. National Portrait Gallery, 14 October 2004 - 9 October 2005), London 2004
2009

A. van Suchtelen and B. van Beneden, Room for Art in Seventeenth-Century Antwerp (exh. cat., Rubenshuis, Antwerp; Royal Picture Gallery, Mauritshuis, The Hague), Zwolle 2009
2009

B. Van Beneden, 'Willem van Haecht. An Erudite and Talented Copyist', in A. Van Suchtelen and B. Van Beneden, Room for Art in Seventeenth-Century Antwerp, Zwolle 2009, pp. 56-92
2012

A. Vergara and F. Lammertse, The Young Van Dyck (exh. cat., Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid), Madrid 2012
2013

B. van Beneden, 'Cornelis van der Geest (1555 - 1638), "een zeer groot bewonderaar van de schilderkunst"', in B. van Beneden (ed.), 500 jaar verzamelen in Antwerpen: Een passioneel verhaal, Leuven 2013, pp. 12-23
2014

B. Ramakers, 'Sophonisba's dress. Costume, tragedy and value on the Antwerp stage (c. 1615-1630)', Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek, LXIV, 2014, pp. 298-347
2016

S. Alsteens, 'A Portraitist's Progress', in S. Alsteens and A. Eaker, Van Dyck: The Anatomy of Portraiture, New York 2016, pp. 1-38
2021

C. White, Anthony van Dyck & the Art of Portraiture, London 2021

About this record

If you know more about this work or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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