Sir Anthony van Dyck

Montgomery Schuyler, Jr. (1877-1955), New York, by 1944

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting has been lined, most likely in the nineteenth century. The paint layer is stable and for the most part, the lining seems to be quite sufficient. The paint layer has been cleaned and varnished. There are no retouches and so the original paint layer is clearly visible. For van Dyck particularly, the paint layer is quite presentable. The palette is quite raw and there is a possibility that a glaze is missing, particularly from the shawl around the figure, yet some focused and well thought out retouches will produce a lovely image. There are a few paint losses due to abrasion which although not numerous, will need some attention, particularly in the clothing. The face and head are generally in lovely condition. Across the bottom edge there is a filling and some subsequent loose retouching, which has most likely been applied to extend the picture slightly to give room to the fingers. We suggest that the sides of the picture remain the same, but this restoration should be improved.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This unpublished three-quarter length portrait of a woman is an intriguing addition to the works of Anthony Van Dyck.  In early 1632, Van Dyck came to the court of Charles I, where he stayed, engaged with a series of royal portraits, until the end of 1663.  He then left for Brussels and Antwerp and returned to London in the spring of 1635, remaining in England until his death in 1641.  Van Dyck's handling of the paint¸ as well as the setting and costume date it to these later years in England. 

The setting is spartan – he shows a fair-haired English woman against an undefined background.  The only decoration in the room is a vase of flowers (dahlias? peonies?) on a small table at the left, which are echoed by the flowers in her hair.  This indeterminate setting and the pose, particularly the positioning of the arms and hands, and the way the woman holds her fingers, can be compared to the Portrait of Catherine, Lady Chomondeley, owned by the Delamere Trust, which Oliver Millar has dated to Van Dyck's last years.¹ However, instead of widow's garb, the sitter here is clothed in what has been described as "timeless undress."² In this and other late portraits, Van Dyck deliberately simplified his female subjects' costumes, removing them from the sphere of current fashion by eliminating corsets and surface decoration as well as lace collars and cuffs. He also introduced wide billowing sleeves, patterned after Italian Renaissance portraits, particularly those of Titian, but retained the basic silhouette characteristic of the period.  Jewelry was the main decorative element and Van Dyck was quite free in borrowing necklaces and earrings (at least visually) from one sitter and giving them to another.  In this Portrait of a Lady he has also added the unusual element of a transparent patterned scarf, which his has draped across the woman's shoulder.

Van Dyck has fully worked up the face and hair, but the clothing is treated more loosely.  These differences in finish may reflect, in part, his working methods, for the sitters and costumes were often executed at different times.  Van Dyck generally devoted an hour to each sitting, in which he would concentrate on the arrangement of the composition and the subjects' faces.  The clothing would have been previously be delivered to the studio where specialized drapery painters would add it to the composition, while Van Dyck would frequently provide the finishing touches.

1.  O. Millar in S. J. Barnes et al, Van Dyck.  A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven and London 2004, p. 489.
2.  Ibid., p. 423.