Anthony Van Dyck circle or studio of
Portrait of the Composer and Organist Hendrik Liberti
Oil on canvas. 65 x 50 cm.
"Van Dyck painted this portrait of the musician Hendrik Liberti shortly after his return from Italy. Liberti, who came from Groningen, was employed as an organist at Antwerp cathedral as of 1620 and also occasionally performed at the court of Brussels. The gold chain, which Van Dyck drapes dramatically over the musician's garments in a motif also taken up by the author of this work, may have been given to him as a gift. The original portrait of Liberti, which was once housed in the collection of Charles I in the Palace of Whitehall, is now lost. However, the composition survived in an engraving by Peter de Jode as well as various versions painted by Van Dyck's circle. The version considered the best and closest to the original is the one in Munich (S. Barnes, N. De Poorter, O. Millar, H. Vey: Van Dyck. A complete catalogue, 2004, A. 328).
The present work depicts a smaller section of Van Dyck's original composition with the face and part of the torso. The face, hair, shirt and golden chains are close to the original and very finely painted."
Provenance
From an old South German private collection.