Lucas Vorsterman
1630/33
Medium
Etching in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image/sheet, trimmed within platemark: 21.8 × 15.1 cm (8 5/8 × 6 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
55876
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Among the 15 etchings that Van Dyck created for his portrait series, the Iconography, this arresting yet ambiguous portrait of Lucas Vorsterman may provide the most compelling description of a face; the wide-eyed expression suggests both apprehension and aggression. Van Dyck knew his subject well. Both he and Vorsterman served as assistants in the workshop of the celebrated and controlling painter, draftsman, and printmaker Peter Paul Rubens.
About the Artist
Anthony van Dyck · 1599–1641
Sir Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) was a Flemish Baroque artist who revolutionized portrait painting and became the most influential court painter in 17th-century England. Born in Antwerp as the seventh of twelve children to a prosperous silk merchant, van Dyck displayed extraordinary artistic talent from childhood. He trained under Hendrick van Balen before joining Peter Paul Rubens's workshop as a...