Van Dyck before and after - Royal edition
May 22 2018
Picture: Adam Busiakiewicz
Back in 2015, I reported on the rather sad news that the owners of Warwick Castle (the listed company, Merlin Entertainment) were flogging off some of the Old Masters that have hung in the castle for centuries, including a full-length Van Dyck of Henrietta Maria. The portrait was offered at Sotheby's in London, and now belongs to a private collector in the USA. The painting was originally, when painted by Van Dyck, a half-length and was added to in the 18th Century to make it into a full-length.
The present owner has now removed the additions, which might sound shocking but actually I think it was the right thing to do. The additions weren't especially competent, and in getting the proportions slightly wrong made the Queen look as is she was wearing stilts. We have to consider that had Van Dyck originally conceived the picture as a full-length, he would have adjusted the foreshortening to account for the fact that the Queen would have been viewed from a different height and perspective. There was a suggestion that Sir Joshua Reynolds had made the additions, but for what it's worth I wasn't persuaded by that myself.
Anyway, the picture is now on loan at the Yale Center for British Art (but not spelling) in the USA. On his blog, Adam Busiakiewicz - who used to work at Warwick Castle - sets out the picture's story.
