AFTER SIR ANTHONY VAN DYCK | Study of a head in profile

oil on oak panel, unframed A copy after Van Dyck's 'Study of a head in profile', today in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp.1 Van Dyck painted the head study when he was barely twenty years old and still in the studio of his master, Sir Peter Paul Rubens. He used the study for the bottom right figure in the renowned 'Crowning with Thorns' in the Prado, Madrid (inv. no. P001474),2 and the 'Crowning with Thorns' from the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Berlin (which was destroyed during the Second World War). Both paintings date from around 1618 to 1620, which means that the head study pre-dates these works. 1 https://www.muhka.be/nl/collections/artworks/h/item/17557-head-study2 https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-crowning-with-thorns/8115e55f-004f-45c3-b574-fb9880c2fb57 

All paintings available to view at the Sotheby’s Greenford Park warehouse, 5 - 7 and 10 – 13 September (10 - 4pm), by appointment. The panel is uncradled, flat and stable. The paint surface is slightly dirty and the varnish slightly discoloured. There are extensive horizontal and vertical surface scratch marks throughout. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals areas of retouching throughout the background, notably to an area beneath the sitter's beard which measures 8 x 4 cm., along the upper left margin approx. 11 x 2 cm., and in the upper right corner. There are also retouchings in his cloak and smaller retouchings in the back of his neck, under his chin, and scattered in his hair and face.
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