Anthonis van Dyck was born at Antwerp on 22 March 1599. He was the seventh child of a family of twelve, being the son of Frans van Dyck, a silk merchant. While still a boy, he was placed on the advice of Jan Brueghel, as a pupil in the studio of Hendrick van Balen, who had been a pupil of Rubens. He learned quickly and it is recorded that at the age of 14, he painted a portrait of an old man. A lawsuit in 1660 disclosed that in his youth, he had produced a series of heads ‘exceedingly well painted’. In 1618 he was admitted to the Freedom of the Guild of St Luke in Antwerp, a highly unusual distinction for a youth. In 1620, at the request of the Countess of Arundel, van Dyck appears to have travelled over to England and upon arrival to have received commissions from King James I. Upon their completion, he returned to Antwerp and set out for Italy, remaining abroad for some five years. He spent time at Genoa, moved on to Rome and then visited Florence. From there, he went to Bologna, Mantua, Venice, Milan and Rome. The records of that journey are recorded in the Chatsworth Sketch Book. His life in Rome was unsatisfactory, for he made enemies there. He departed the Eternal City and settled in Genoa, where he was most popular. His portraits of the nobility of Genoa rank among his finest and form an unrivalled series. In 1624 he visited Palermo, painting the portrait of Emmanuel of Savoy, Viceroy of Sicily and carried out some church work, but returned to Genoa and in 1626 left for Antwerp, probably on account of complications arising from the division of his father’s estate. He visited Aachen and is believed to have gone on to Paris, while tradition states that he made a second visit to England. However, little is known of his movements until 1630, when he was at The Hague, and shortly thereafter back in Antwerp. In 1632 Van Dyck went again to England and was graciously received by King Charles I. He would appear to have entered royal service immediately, as a warrant was issued on 21 May 1632 authorising payment of an allowance to him and a residence at Blackfriars. He had also a summer residence in Eltham Palace. He was knighted on 5 July, presented with a chain and medal of great value, and granted an annual pension of £200. From the moment of his arrival commenced his success as a portrait painter in England. In 1634-35 he received a pressing invitation to visit the court at Brussels and accepted it, but in 1635 was back at Antwerp. That same year, he returned to England, taking up again his position as Portrait Painter to King Charles I and to Queen Henrietta Maria. Of the King, he painted 36 portraits and about 25 of Henrietta Maria, but perhaps the most remarkable works he executed were those of the Royal children. His triple portrait of King Charles I may be seen above. In his work of the period, he captured the pensive mood of the Carolingian Court, before the outbreak of the English Civil War. He prepared a decoration scheme for the walls of the Banqueting House in Whitehall, the sketches for which still exist, but the Royal Exchequer could not afford the work. The Cupids, or ‘putti’, were van Dyck’s trademark and he introduced the theme of a female sitter with a young male relative dressed as Cupid to English art. In 1639 van Dyck married Mary Ruthven, grand-daughter of the Earl of Gowrie. In 1640 van Dyck decided to return to Antwerp. Peter Paul Rubens had died and van Dyck became the acknowledged head of the Flemish School. Van Dyck was disposed to settle permanently at Antwerp, but first went to Paris, desiring to obtain the commission to decorate the gallery of the Louvre. That work was, however, given to French artists and he returned to London, later on in the year, visiting Antwerp and Paris and then returning to London. When he arrived, he was seriously ill and despite being attended by the royal physician, he died at his house in Blackfriars, eight days after his wife had given birth to a daughter. He was buried in St Paul’s Cathedral and a monument was erected by order of the King. Both grave and monument perished in the Great Fire of 1666. In portraiture, Van Dyck is believed to be the greatest artist produced by Europe after Titian, and in works of decorative splendour, perhaps only rivalled by Rubens. He was a man of luxurious and somewhat indolent habits, ambitious, proud, sensitive and quick to take offence. In his portraits, the elegance of composition, the delicate expression of the heads, the truth and purity of his colouring and the strong life-like quality of expression give him the very highest position and he is one of the very few painters whom all critics and art historians have, without exception, placed in the first rank.