Sir Anthony van Dyck: Henri II de Lorraine

Henri II de Lorraine, Sir Anthony van Dyck, c. 1634, National Gallery of Art, Washington

Brussels, 1634. Van Dyck must immortalise a French aristocrat in exile, seductive, ambiguous, flamboyant. The Flemish painter seizes the moment with formidable precision.

Portrait of a Dandy with a Forgotten Armour

Look at this man. He stands sovereign, against a backdrop of rocks and a troubled sky. His brown hair falls in loose curls over a wide lace collar. The embroidered beige doublet and vivid red breeches, trimmed with gold braid, catch the eye immediately. At his feet lies a dark suit of armour, almost an afterthought. Van Dyck works with virtuosity: the satin gleams, the lace quivers, the leather drinks in the light. Every texture speaks.

An Exile Between War and Frivolity

In March 1634, Van Dyck left the court of Charles I of England and returned to the Southern Netherlands. There he painted several French aristocrats who had taken refuge in Brussels as partisans of the exiled Marie de’ Medici. Henri II de Lorraine was one of them. Scion of the powerful House of Guise, appointed Archbishop of Reims at fifteen, he nonetheless preferred battlefields to cathedrals. His motto says it all: There are only two things in life: war and women. After Nördlingen, he most likely settled into the entourage of the Cardinal-Infant Ferdinand, the new Governor of the Southern Netherlands. The armour at his feet recalls his recent military engagements, but his bearing tells a different story.

Anthony van Dyck

Anthony van Dyck (Antwerp, 1599 – London, 1641) formed his style under Rubens before establishing himself as the defining Baroque portraitist in Europe. Painter to Charles I, he mastered the art of giving the powerful precisely the image they desired, or deserved.