Anthony van Dyck (Antwerp, 1599 - 1641, London)
Woman with a Rose, about 1635-1639
Oil on canvas, 101.5 x 79.5 cm (39 15/16 x 31 5/16 in.)
This vertical portrait portrays a woman dressed in black, holding a single rose. The light-skinned woman is shown from the waist up and turned slightly towards our left. Her thin, dark eyebrows are slightly raised, and her blue eyes look out at us. Her pink lips are closed. The triangular peak of her black veil covers the top of her curly red hair and flows over her shoulders, seamlessly merging into her outfit. She is dressed in a black gown with voluminous sleeves. The dress has a shine to it, suggesting a more luxurious fabric, like silk. The top of the garment is white and accented with a teardrop pearl right in the center. A matching pearl necklace adorns her neck. An opaque, golden scarf is draped around her shoulders and tucked under her crossed arms. She holds a pink rose upside down between the third and fourth fingers of her right hand. A dark background is broken up on the right with a small maritime scene to our right. A body of water is visible behind a silhouette of bushes and trees. Voluminous clouds, reminiscent of the woman’s voluminous sleeves, top the small water scene.
Dutch Room
Commentary
The sitter crosses her arms in an enigmatic fashion, and holds a rose casually between her fingers; the flower may symbolize the pleasures and pains of love. The delicate silvery tones and the billowing drapery are typical of the elegant portraits Anthony van Dyck made in London between 1635 and 1639. Fashion and art found remarkable rapport in van Dyck’s portraits of English women: strings of pearls, colorful silks, and casually worn diaphanous gauzes were favored by both the painter and his aristocratic sitters.
Van Dyck worked extensively for Charles I and his court, but also painted a wide variety of sitters. An old copy of the portrait suggests that she may be a member of the Killegrew family; van Dyck painted several other members of the family.
Source: Alan Chong, "Portrait of a Woman with a Rose," in Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003): 140.
Van Dyck worked extensively for Charles I and his court, but also painted a wide variety of sitters. An old copy of the portrait suggests that she may be a member of the Killegrew family; van Dyck painted several other members of the family.
Source: Alan Chong, "Portrait of a Woman with a Rose," in Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003): 140.