Sir Anthony in London [ 2 ]

Van Dyck’s laatste zelfportret aangekocht door de National Portrait Gallery

Van DyckHet laatste zelfportret dat de Vlaamse schilder Anthony van Dyck rond 1641 schilderde werd vorig jaar via een grote fondsenwerving door de National Portrait Gallery aangekocht. Om dit te vieren maakt het portret de komende drie jaar een tournee door Engeland. Het zal te zien zijn in Margate, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle en Edinburgh. Maar eerst is het te zien in Londen.

Anthony van Dyck schilderde overigens drie zelfportretten, waaronder zijn bekende zelfportret met zonnebloemen uit 1633.

Thanks to a massive fundraising effort and the contributions of people from all over the world, the National Portrait Gallery has now broken the streak and acquired the 1641 self-portrait. It took a lot of doing. When the portrait came up for sale in 2009, the NPG did not have the funds to join in the raucous bidding that established the new record for a Van Dyck painting. In 2010, Bader and Mould offered the work to the National Portrait Gallery and the Tate for £9.5 million ($16,000,000). The museums put their heads together and tried to find a way to save the masterpiece for the nation, but even with a generous grant from the Art Fund, the total was far out of reach. None of the other possible grant sources were able to contribute, and with the economy still so sluggish, the NPG and Tate didn’t think a public fundraising appeal would be able to generate the millions of pounds necessary.
 
Bron: thehistoryblog.com
Van Dyck
detail van het virtuoos geschilderde zelfportret

Van Dyck in the National Portrait Gallery [ npg.org.uk ]