Lady with a Fan
c. 1628
Artist, Flemish, 1599 - 1641
Anthony van Dyck painted this portrait of an upper-class Antwerp burgher around 1628, shortly after he returned to Antwerp from a six-year sojourn in Italy. At that time, Antwerp's long-established portrait tradition emphasized a sitter's virtuous character through restrained gestures and a direct gaze. However, while in Italy, Van Dyck's portrait style had evolved and he afterward tended to portray his sitters with gentle grace and elegant demeanor. Moved by his remarkable ability to paint likenesses that were as intimate as they were noble, Antwerp patrons eagerly commissioned works by his hand.
The woman in the Gallery's portrait exemplifies Van Dyck's approach to portraiture that so appealed to his Antwerp clientele. As she turns her head slightly to look directly at the viewer, the woman stands in a relaxed yet dignified manner, her right hand gently grasping her black overdress and her left hand holding a closed fan by her side. Her hair is arranged loosely over her neck and elegantly frames her face in a manner that is fashionable yet subtle, while her extraordinary white satin dress features discreetly placed jewelry that attests to her aristocratic refinement.
Although the sitter's name is not known, she has been traditionally identified as Doña Polyxena Spinola Guzman de Leganés (1600–1637), daughter of the Genoese general commander of the Spanish army in the southern Netherlands Ambrogio Spinola (1569–1630). Van Dyck did paint Doña Polyxena while he lived in Genoa, probably in the winter of 1621–1622. However, no documents indicate that she ever visited Antwerp and the sitter possesses entirely different facial characteristics than does Doña Polyxena in her known portraits. Whatever the woman's identity, Van Dyck ably imbued her with dignity, humanity, and grace, the hallmarks of his artistic genius.
West Building Main Floor, Gallery 43
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 109.7 x 97 cm (43 3/16 x 38 3/16 in.)
framed: 151.5 x 134.6 x 16.5 cm (59 5/8 x 53 x 6 1/2 in.) -
Accession
1957.14.1
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Probably Archduke Leopold Wilhelm [1614-1662], Brussels, by 1653.[1] Possibly Spinola family, Spain; possibly Marchesa Geronima Centurione, Genoa; probably Doria family, Genoa, by 1680;[2] probably by inheritance to Marchese Ambrogio Doria [d. 1913], Genoa;[3] probably by inheritance to his son, Marchese Giorgio Doria, Genoa;[4] (Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Rome), by 1928;[5] sold March 1932 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[6] gift 1957 to NGA.
[1] This painting was presumably in Archduke Leopold Wilhelm's collection by 1653, when David Teniers the Younger included it in a painting of the Archduke's cabinet.
[2] Mario Menotti, "Van Dyck a Genova," Archivio storico dell'arte, 2nd series, anno 3 (1897): 444 note 3. According to Menotti, the painting had been brought to Genoa from Spain by Geronima Di Negro Centurione, who had acquired it from the Spinola family. He also identifies the painting with a reference in a 1680 inventory of the Doria collection, in which collection Otto Mündler saw the painting in April and October 1857; see "The Travel Diaries of Otto Mündler 1855-1858," ed. Carol Togner Dowd, Walpole Society 51 (1985): 179, 276.
[3] See Menotti 1897: 375, repro.
[4] No specific evidence exists that the painting was in the son's collection. However, it is unlikely that Alessandro Contini Bonacossi would have already acquired this painting by the time of Ambrogio Doria's death in 1913.
[5] A document dated 28 May 1928 from the Ministry of Education in the Commune of Rome establishes that Count Contini Bonacossi owned the painting by this time (see copy in NGA curatorial files).
[6] A bill of sale for this painting dates to March 4, 1932, for which an export license was obtained later that summer (see copies in NGA curatorial files); see also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1209.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1933
Catalogue of a Century of Progess Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture. The Art Institute of Chicago, 1933, no. 59.
1939
Masterpieces of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture from 1300-1800, New York World's Fair, 1939, no. 104.
1984
Baroque Portraiture in Italy: Works from North American Collections, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, 1984-1985, no. 75, as Portrait of a Lady in Black, White, and Gold.
1985
Loan for display with permanent collection, The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida, 1985-1987.
1996
Obras Maestras de la National Gallery of Art de Washington, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City, 1996-1997, unnumbered catalogue, 52-53, color repro.
1999
Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 81, repro.
2003
Dutch and Flemish Treasures from the National Gallery of Art, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, 2003, no cat.
Bibliography
1951
Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1945-1951. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 208, no. 92, repro.
1959
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 294, repro.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 48.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 40, repro.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 122, repro.
1977
Eisler, Colin. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian. Oxford, 1977: 115-116, fig. 105.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 259, no. 329, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 148, repro.
Mündler, Otto. "The Travel Diaries of Otto Mündler." Ed. Carol Togneri Dowd. Walpole Society 51 (1985): 179, 276.
2004
Barnes, Susan J. Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings. New Haven, 2004: III.203
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: 71-74, 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: 138.
Wikidata ID
Q20177080