National Gallery of Art

Overview

In this tender image of a mother and daughter, Anthony van Dyck has conveyed the full extent of his artistic abilities. Even in a formal portrait like this one, he has ably captured the warmth, love, and reassurance of the parent-child relationship through gaze, gesture, and even bearing. The woman is almost certainly Susanna Fourment, identified by a drawing of Van Dyck's one-time mentor and frequent collaborator Peter Paul Rubens, and her only daughter, Clara. Rubens was married to Susanna's sister-in-law Isabella Brant, and it was probably through Rubens that Van Dyck received the commission for this portrait.

With its combination of informality and grandeur, as well as the extraordinary naturalism of the figures' expressions and gestures, the painting bears close stylistic associations with Van Dyck's other work of around 1621. He had returned to his hometown of Antwerp from England in March of that year, but left again the following October to go to Italy. Unfortunately, nothing is known about the 17th-century provenance of Susanna Fourment and Her Daughter. Although it can be assumed that the large-scale portrait was painted for Susanna's home, most likely intended for the voorkamer (front room), there are no references to the painting until 1762. When Andrew Mellon purchased the work in 1930, the painting had been attributed to Rubens, owing to its close stylistic relationship with the master's work. However, by 1941 it had been given to Van Dyck, and it has never been questioned since.

Provenance

Probably Anna Theresia van Halen; (her sale, Antwerp, 19 August 1749, no. 1); Gaillard de Gagny (receiver of finances), Grenoble;[1] (his estate sale, Pierre Remy, Paris, 29 March 1762, no. 9); purchased by Jean-Henri Eberts for Markgräfin Karoline Luise von Baden [1723-1783];[2] (her sale, Amsterdam, 6 March 1769, no. 3); Etienne-François, duc de Choiseul [1719-1785], Paris and Château de Canteloup, Touraine; (his sale, at his residence, Paris, 6-10 April 1772, no. 1); purchased through (Augustin Ménageot, Paris) by Prince Alexander M. Golitzyn for Catherine II, empress of Russia [1729-1796], for the Imperial Hermitage Gallery, Saint Petersburg;[3] purchased March 1930, as a painting by Peter Paul Rubens, through (Matthiesen Gallery, Berlin; P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London; and M. Knoedler & Co., New York) by Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded 30 March 1932 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[4] gift 1937 to NGA.

Exhibition History

1990

Anthony van Dyck, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1990-1991, no. 21, color repro.

2012

The Young Van Dyck, Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, 2012-2013, no. 89, repro.

Bibliography

1762

Rémy, Pierre. Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, porcelaines, bijoux et autre effects du Cabinet de Feu M. Gaillard de Gagny. Paris, 1762: 6-7, no. 9.

1771

Basan, Pierre François. Recueil d'Estampes Gravés d'après les tableaux du cabinet Monseigneur le Duc de Choisel. Paris, 1771:8, repro. pl. 83.

1772

Boileau, J.F. Catalogue des tableaux qui composent le cabinet de Monseignor le Duc de Choiseul. Paris, 1772:3, no. 1.

1773

Imperial Hermitage Museum [probably Ernst von Münnich, ed.] "Catalogue raisonné des tableaux qui se trouvent dans les Galeries, Sallons et Cabinets du Palais Impérial de S. Pétersbourg, commencé en 1773 et continué jusqu’en 1785.” 3 vols. Manuscript, Fund 1, Opis’ VI-A, delo 85, Hermitage Archives, Saint Petersburg,1773-1783 (vols. 1-2), 1785 (vol. 3).

1774

Imperial Hermitage Museum [probably Ernst von Münnich, ed.]. Catalogue des tableaux qui se trouvent dans les Cabinets du Palais Impérial à Saint-Pétersbourg. Based on the 1773 manuscript catalogue. Saint Petersburg, 1774: no. 904, as Portrait d'une Dame et de son fils.

1863

Köhne, Baron Bernhard de. Ermitage Impérial, Catalogue de la Galérie des Tableaux. Saint Petersburg, 1863: 139, no. 635.

1864

Viardot, Louis. Le Musée de l'Ermitage à Saint-Pétersbourg et son nouveau catalogue. Paris, 1864:318

1864

Waagen, Gustav Friedrich. Die Gemäldesammlung in der kaiserlichen Ermitage zu St. Petersburg nebst Bemerkungen über andere dortige Kunstsammlungen. Munich, 1864: 149, no. 635.

1870

Köhne, Baron Bernhard de. Ermitage Impérial: Catalogue de la Galérie des Tableaux. 3 vols. 2nd ed. Saint Petersburg, 1870: 2:79-80, no. 635.

1879

Ris, Comte Louis Clément de. "Musée Impérial de l'Ermitage à Saint-Pétersbourg (third of 4 articles)." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 19 (June1879): 580-581, as Dame et sa fille.

1882

Guiffrey, Jules. Antoine van Dyck - sa vie et son oeuvre. Paris, 1882: 287, no. 1095.

1890

Rooses, Max. L'Oeuvre de P.P. Rubens: histoire et description de ses tabelaux et dessins. 5 vols. Antwerp, 1886-1892: 4(1890):181-182, no. 952, as Rubens.

1895

Somov, Andrei Ivanovich. Ermitage Impérial: Catalogue de la Galérie des Tableaux. 2 vols. 3rd ed. Saint Petersburg, 1895: 74-75, no. 635.

1898

Stevenson, R.A.M. Peter Paul Rubens. London, 1898:57

1898

Tourneux, Maurice. "Diderot et le musée de l'Ermitage." Gazette des Beaux-arts19 (1898): 342.

1899

Phillips, Claude. "The Van Dyck Exhibition at Antwerp." The Nineteenth Century 46 (November 1899): 743

1900

Cust, Lionel. Anthony van Dyck - An Historical Study of His Life and Works. London, 1900:17, 234, no. 22.

1900

Phillips, Claude. "The Imperial Gallery of the Hermitage--III." The North American Review 170 (January 1900):136-137.

1900

Rooses, Max. Fifty Masterpieces of Anthony van Dyck. London, 1900: 6, as Rubens.

1901

Somov, Andre Ivanovich. Ermitage Impérial. Catalogue de la Galérie des Tableaux. 2 vols. 4th ed. Saint Petersburg, 1901: 2:366-367, no. 635.

1902

Rooses, Max. "Die vlämischen und niederländischen Meister in der Ermitage zu St. Petersburg [1]." Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst 13 (1902):46, as Rubens

1903

Cust, Lionel. Van Dyck. 2 vols. New York, 1903: 1:13-14

1903

Rooses, Max. Rubens'leven en werken. Amsterdam and Antwerp, 1903:547, as Rubens.

1904

Rooses, Max. Rubens. 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1904:I:303, as Rubens.

1937

Jewell, Edward Alden. "Mellon's Gift." Magazine of Art 30, no. 2 (February 1937): 82 (as by Rubens).

1941

Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 203-204, no. 48.

1942

Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 240, repro. 40.

1949

Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 69, repro.

1963

Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 310, repro.

1965

Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 46.

1968

European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968: 39, repro.

1975

European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 118, repro.

1976

Hoet, Gerard. Catalogus of naamlyst van schilderyen. 3 vols. Reprint of 1752 ed. with supplement by Pieter Terwesten, 1770. Soest, 1976: 2:256, no. 1.

1978

King, Marian. Adventures in Art: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1978: 46-47, pl. 25.

1984

Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 259, no. 328, color repro.

1985

European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 143, repro.

1986

Rooses, Max. "Oeuvre de Rubens. Addenda et Corrigenda." Rubens-Bulletijn 4 (1896):284, 286, as Rubens.

1991

Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 91, 97, color repro.

2004

Barnes, Susan J. Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings. New Haven, 2004: I.103

2005

Fahy, Everett, ed. The Wrightsman Pictures. New Haven, 2005: 116, under cat. 33, fig. 3.

2005

Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Flemish Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2005: 30-35, color repro.

2009

Odom, Anne, and Wendy R. Salmond, eds. Treasures into Tractors: The Selling of Russia's Cultural Heritage, 1918-1938. Washington, D.C., 2009:

2011

Fiedler, Susanne, and Torsten Knuth. "Vexierbilder einer Biographie: Dr. Heinz Mansfeld (1899-1959)." Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher 126 (2011):307.

2016

Jaques, Susan. The Empress of Art: Catherine the Great and the Transformation of Russia. New York, 2016: 398.

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