Jan Brueghel the Elder. From Icones principum virorum ('The Iconography')

The Iconography (Icones principum virorum) is a very large series of portrait prints made after drawings and paintings by the famous Antwerp - and later international - court artist and painter, Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641). Eighteen prints were etched by the artist himself, although the majority are engravings made by a variety of printmakers: van Dyck found painting more profitable than printmaking. This compilation of portraits of princes, politicians, soldiers, statesmen, scholars, art connoisseurs and most importantly artists, a survey of the most distinguished men and women of his time, went through many editions.

At the time of van Dyck's premature death, there were 80 such prints (52 were of artists); in the late 18th century this had grown to over 200. The Iconography proved hugely influential as a commercial model for reproductive printmaking, and influenced portrait painting in turn. It only became superseded in the mid-19th century with the advent of photography.

While the original 18 'icons' are the most prized, especially in their early states, engraving was added by other hands, in many instances commissioned and approved by van Dyck himself and executed by highly skilled practitioners such as Schelte Adamsz. Bolswert and Lucas Vorsterman. Sometimes his work is obscured by them, to the dismay of purist connoisseurs!

In art historical terms, van Dyck's own etchings are greatly admired. He was a brilliant technician, and his 'unfinished but complete' approach, where the heads are fully worked out but the costume and hands unfinished, is remarkably modern. This went on to influence portraitists of later centuries, particularly those who believed in 'bravura' and virtuosity, such as John Singer Sargent and Augustus John. Print expert Arthur Hind wrote: 'Portrait etching had scarcely had an existence before his time, and in his work it suddenly appears at the highest point ever reached in the art'.

This print (the fourth state of the etching) was worked on by another, unknown artist, and was published in 1645 by Gillis Hendricx, a few years after van Dyck's death. In making this etching of the major Flemish artist Jan Brueghel the Elder, van Dyck must have worked from a drawing or oil sketch done from life, but any such preparatory work has not survived.

Van Dyck and Brueghel certainly knew each other: van Dyck had trained with the Antwerp painter Hendrik van Balen, with whom Brueghel executed several collaborative paintings, and as a young artist, van Dyck worked in Peter Paul Rubens' workshop, where he may also have come into contact with Brueghel. In the etching, van Dyck himself executed the elegant calligraphic lines of Brueghel's face and figure, leaving the background to an assistant, who finished it in stages and added a Latin inscription that describes Brueghel as an Antwerp specialist in flower still-lifes and landscapes ('ANTWERPIAE PICTOR FLORUM ET RUR ALIUM PROSPECTUUM.') An engraved portrait of Rubens appeared in the same series.

Jan Brueghel the Elder (also known as 'Velvet' Brueghel) was the son of the famous Flemish artist, Pieter Brueghel the Elder, and brother of Pieter Brueghel the younger. The latter is mistakenly known in history as 'Hell' Brueghel due to the themes of paintings almost certainly by Jan! A portrait of the Pieter Brueghel the Younger by van Dyck and in the same Iconography series, is also in Te Papa's collection (1869-0001-107).

See:

http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/fourpaintings/rubens/the_artist/etching.html

http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/art/324146

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_van_Dyck

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art    July 2017