“LE ROI À LA CHASSE”

Van Dyck’s manner of life in England, as the petted Court painter of Charles i., and the factory-like output of his well-organised studio at Blackfriars, are too well known to need further comment. In justice to his fair fame it is necessary to draw a clear distinction between the innumerable replicas turned out by his assistants under his guidance, and such magnificent original works from the master’s own brush as the glorious Portrait of King Charles I. of England (No. 1967, [Plate XXIII.]), known as “Le Roi à la Chasse,” which is one of the proudest possessions of the French national collection. The king is seen, resting his gloved hand on a stick, in a glade, with the sea in the distance. Behind him are two attendants and his white charger pawing the ground in impatient action. The king’s noble, quiet dignity is such as to dominate the entire composition, without, however, the slightest hint of the theatrical. Here, as in most of his English portraits, Van Dyck has departed from the glowing sumptuousness of his earlier Venetian palette, and arrived at a cooler, mellow, and more personal harmony of decorative colour. As if conscious of the superior merit of this picture, which is more than a mere portrait of the king, and depicts the very personification of royalty, the artist, who was not in the habit of signing his pictures, inscribed on a stone the lettering

CAROLUS I REX MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ · VAN DIICK F.

Painted for the king in 1635 for £100, it passed through many hands before it was bought by Louis xv. for Mme du Barry, by whom it was ceded in 1775 to his successor for 24,000 livres.

PLATE XXIII.—SIR ANTHONY VAN DYCK
(1599–1641)
FLEMISH SCHOOL
No. 1967.—PORTRAIT OF KING CHARLES I. OF ENGLAND
(Portrait de Charles i^er, roi d’Angleterre (1600–1649))

The King, wearing a white satin coat, red riding-breeches, boots, spurs, and a large felt hat, stands proudly forward towards the left of the composition; his right hand rests on his stick, his left is placed on his hip. The Marquess of Hamilton, in attendance on the King, grasps the bridle of the charger; in the landscape background is a page.

Painted in oil on canvas.

Signed on a stone in the right foreground:—

“CAROLUS I REX MAGNÆ BRITANNIÆ.
VAN DIICK F.”

8 ft. 11½ in × 7 ft. (2·72 × 2·12.)

To Van Dyck’s English period, which only terminated with his death in 1641, belong the group of Charles Louis, Elector Palatine, and Rupert, Prince of Bavaria (No. 1969), and the Portrait of James Stuart, Duke of Lennox (No. 1975)—not the Duke of Richmond, as stated in the official Catalogue—in the character of Paris. Another twelve pictures are catalogued under Van Dyck’s name, but they are either of minor importance, or, like the Three Children of Charles I. (No. 1968), mere studio repetitions.