Sir Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641), Painter

Sitter associated with 28 portraits
Artist associated with 996 portraits
Van Dyck was a Flemish artist who became the leading court painter in England. He is most famous for his portraits of Charles I of England and his family and court. His elegant likenesses were much in demand in the Low Countries as well as in Italy and England. His mythological and religious scenes were also admired and profoundly influenced later generations of artists. At the age of ten, Van Dyck was apprenticed to Hendrik van Balen, a successful Antwerp painter. His early work emulated Rubens, the most prominent artist in Antwerp at the time and, by 1620, Van Dyck was working in Rubens' studio. Appointed court painter by Charles I of England in 1632, he was knighted later the same year.