A Genoese Noblewoman and Her Son

c. 1626

Sir Anthony van Dyck

Artist, Flemish, 1599 - 1641

A woman wearing a voluminous black dress with a wide, ruffled collar sits holding the hand of a young boy, who stands next to her, in this vertical portrait painting. The woman sits with her body in profile facing our left, and she looks in that direction. The boy stands at her feet, behind her legs to our left, looking out at us. Both have pale, peachy skin with rosy cheeks, dark blond hair, and brown eyes. The woman’s hair is pulled back and covered with pearls, and a few short tendrils curl around her face. Her long black dress has puffed, black-on-black brocade sleeves, and the skirt is cut with short, decorative slits. The skirt has a sheen where the light falls, suggesting it is silk. Her wide, stiff, ruffled collar is pleated into a figure-eight pattern around her neck, and a thick gold chain loops over one shoulder to the opposite hip. The sleeves have wide, ruffled cuffs, and she wears a gold ring with a slate-blue gemstone on the pinky finger of her right hand, closer to us. The boy’s small fingers wrap around the woman’s right hand, farther from us. His body faces us, and his other hand rests on his hip. His straight hair falls across his forehead and to his ears. His suit has a crimson-red, leafy pattern against gray satin, and the sleeves are also nickel gray. A wide, lace-trimmed collar rests along his shoulders. A brown and white dog frolics behind the boy, looking up at him with mouth open and tongue hanging out. The woman’s chair is framed by two stone columns streaked with rust red and taupe, and they extend off the top edge of the composition. A balustrade runs behind the boy along an opening beyond. The top corner of an entablature or lintel supported by columns is visible against a steel-gray, cloudy sky. A red drape flutters above the pair, along the top edge of the canvas, and the red and brown woven carpet below kicks up at the base of the column closer to us.

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In this stunning portrait of a mother and child, Van Dyck fuses patrician grandeur and human warmth. The woman, dressed in a formal black dress, beautifully set off by a graceful lace ruff, sits rigidly erect in high-backed chair. Adorned with an array of jewels that convey her aristocratic refinement—a gold medallion hanging from a chain across her chest, a broad band of pearls encircling her coiffed hair—she stares straight ahead in strict profile with a detached air while also holding her young son's hand, a tender gesture that belies her aloof demeanor. For his part, the boy, dressed in a splendid red brocade doublet and breeches, also seems to possess a maturity and solemnity beyond his years. However, the manner in which he clasps his mother's hand reveals the sense of assurance he receives from her touch. As the rambunctious dog springing at his feet suggests, he is, despite his proud bearing, only a boy.

Despite Van Dyck's remarkable ability to capture his sitter' personalities in this portrait, the precise identity of this mother and child is not known. The earliest reference to the painting dates from and 1801 description of the Earl of Warwick's collection, where it is listed as "Lady Brooke," presumably through a mistaken notion that the female sitter was one of the earl's ancestors. By 1809, however, the Warwick Castle inventory had recast the title as "A whole length Portrait of a Lady and her Page." Eventually it was realized that the painting was from Van Dyck's Italian period rather than his English one—the costumes, the nature of the architectural setting, and Van Dyck's broad summary painting technique clearly indicate this the portrait comes from the latter years of his Italian sojourn. It was also eventually recognized that the relationship between the two figures was that of mother and child.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 42

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Widener Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 191.5 x 139.5 cm (75 3/8 x 54 15/16 in.)
    framed weight: 81.647 kg (180 lb.)

  • Accession

    1942.9.91

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Possibly Pier Francesco Grimaldi, Genoa, 1780;[1] acquired probably by 1787 by George Greville, 2nd earl of Brooke and Warwick [1746-1816], London and Warwick Castle;[2] by inheritance to his son, Henry Richard Greville, 3rd earl of Brooke and Warwick [1779-1853], Warwick Castle; by inheritance to his son, George Guy Greville, 4th earl of Brooke and Warwick [1818-1893], Warwick Castle; by inheritance to his son, Francis Richard Charles Guy Greville, 5th earl of Brooke and Warwick [1853-1924], Warwick Castle, until at least 1900. (E.M. Hodgkins)[3] on joint account with (M. Knoedler and Co., New York); sold 1909 to Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park; gift 1942 to NGA.
[1] Carlo Giuseppe Ratti, Instruzione di quanto può vedersi di più bello in Genova in pittura, scultura, ed architettura ecc... nuovamente ampliata e accresciuta, Genoa, 1780: 134, lists two paintings in the collection of Pier Francesco Grimaldi as representing "Dama con un bimbo per mano," a description that could refer to NGA 1942.9.91. One of these two paintings is listed with a pendant of a man in armor ("Uomo in armatura"), now in South Brisbane, Queensland Art Gallery, listed in their catalogue as Marchese Filippo Spinola. Although Piero Boccardo, "Ritratti di Genovesi di Rubens e di van Dyck: contesto e identificazioni," in Susan J. Barnes and Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., eds., Van Dyck 350, Hanover and Leiden, 1994: 101 note 8, relates the description in Ratti to the National Gallery's double portrait, he thinks it is more probable that the male portrait is a pendant to A Genoese Noblewoman with her Child from the Cleveland Museum of Art. For this painting, see Arthur K. Wheelock, Jr., Susan J. Barnes, et al., Anthony van Dyck, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1990: no. 37, 178-179.
[2] The painting was first recorded in this collection in 1801, as Lady Brooke and Her Son. However, David Buttery, "George Romney and the Second Earl of Warwick," Apollo 124 (August 1986): 108, 109 note 36, argues that it must have been in the collection by 1787 since it served as a model for George Romney's painting of Lady Warwick and Her Children, which was painted in that year. The Earl may have acquired it as early as 1775. Buttery quotes a letter written in that year by Richard Cumberland that refers to Van Dyck paintings in the Earl's collection. It is also possible, however, that the painting was still in Genoa in 1780. See note 1.
[3] Hodgkins may have acquired NGA 1942.9.91 from the Earl of Warwick, since he is known to have acquired Margareta Snyders, now in The Frick Collection (09.1.42, New York), from the Warwick collection. Both paintings were then handled by M. Knoedler and Co. Margareta Snyders was sold to Henry Clay Frick in 1909, the same year that Widener bought A Genoese Noblewoman and Her Son. The reference to Hodgkins was supplied by the Getty Provenance Index.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1862

  • Pictures by Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, French, and English Masters, British Institution, London, 1862, no. 36, as A Lady and Child.

1871

  • Exhibition of the Works of the Old Masters. Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1871, no. 155, Portrait of the Countess of Brignolé and Child.

1878

  • Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters. Winter Exhibition., Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1878, no. 158.

1887

  • Exhibition of the Works of Sir Anthony Van Dyck, Grosvenor Gallery, London, 1887, no. 18, as The Marchesa de Brignolé-Sala and her Son.

1909

  • Exhibition of Portraits by Van Dyck from the Collections of Mr. P.A.B. Widener and Mr. H.C. Frick, M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1909, no. 2, as Marchesa Brignole-Sala and Her Son.

  • National Loan Exhibition, Grafton Galleries, London, 1909-1910, no. 55, as Marchesa di Brignole-Sala and Her Son (shown only at the beginning of the exhibition).

1990

  • Anthony van Dyck, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1990-1991, no. 43, color repro.

1999

  • Van Dyck 1599-1641, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp; Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1999, no. 37, repro.

2004

  • Anton van Dyck: Riflessi italiani, Palazzo Reale, Milan, 2004, no. 18, repro.

2014

  • Rubens and His Legacy: From Van Dyck to Cézanne, BOZAR, Centre for Fine Arts, Brussels; Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2014-2015, no. 105, repro.

Bibliography

1913

  • Hofstede de Groot, Cornelis, and Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Pictures in the collection of P. A. B. Widener at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania: Early German, Dutch & Flemish Schools. Philadelphia, 1913: unpaginated, repro., as Paola Adorno, Marchesa di Brignole-Sala, and her Son.

1923

  • Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1923: unpaginated, repro., as Paola Adorno, Marchesa di Brignole-Sala and Her Son.

1931

  • Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1931: 116, repro., as Paola Adorno, Marchesa di Brignole-Sala and Her Son.

1935

  • Tietze, Hans. Meisterwerke europäischer Malerei in Amerika. Vienna, 1935: 156, repro. (English ed., Masterpieces of European Painting in America. New York, 1939: 156, repro.).

1942

  • Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 7, as Paola Adorno, Marchesa di Brignole-Sale and Her Son.

1948

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 70, repro., as Paola Adorno, Marchesa Brignole Sale, and Her Son.

1957

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 82, as Paola Adorno, Marchesa Brignole Sale, and Her Son.

1960

  • The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 10, repro., as Marchesa Paola Adorno and Her Son.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 311, repro., as Paola Adorno, Marchesa Brignole Sale, and Her Son.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 47, as Paolo Adorno, Marchesa Brignole Sale, and Her Son.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 39, repro., as Paolo Adorno, MArchesa Brignole Sale, and Her Son.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 120, repro., as Paolo Adorno, Marchesa Brignole Sale, and Her Son.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 263, no. 332, color repro., as Paola Adorno, Marchesa Brignole Sale, and Her Son.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 145, repro.

1994

  • Cataldi Gallo, Marzia, "Per una Storia del Costume Genovese nel Primo Quarto del Seicento." Studies in the History of Art 46 (1994): 115.

  • Jaffe, Michael. "On Some Portraits Painted by Van Dyck in Italy, Mainly in Genoa." _Studies in the History of Art _ 46 (1994): 141-142.

2004

  • Barnes, Susan J. Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings. New Haven, 2004: II.73

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: 66-70, color repro.

2020

  • Libby, Alexandra. “From Personal Treasures to Public Gifts: The Flemish Painting Collection at the National Gallery of Art.” In America and the Art of Flanders: Collecting Paintings by Rubens, Van Dyck, and their Circles, edited by Esmée Quodbach. The Frick Collection Studies in the History of Art Collecting in America 5. University Park, 2020: 134.

Wikidata ID

Q3937751

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