Study of a head and hand

This vivacious study, energetically executed on a red priming layer, relates to the full-length Portrait of Princess Henrietta of Lorraine, a member of the French court under Louis XIII, by Sir Anthony van Dyck (London, Kenwood House, The Iveagh Bequest). The portrait was painted in 1634, probably in Brussels, when van Dyck was there after his first, briefer sojourn in England. The portrait was brought from Brussels by Endymion Porter and given to Charles I shortly after being painted (circa 1634-1635), but was sold under the Commonwealth in 1649 and is believed to have arrived in France by 1661, where it remained until returning to England with the Orlans collection in 1792. The present study, which differs from the prototype in the details at lower right, may have been painted while the picture was in England, possibly as an aide for van Dyck's studio in the preparation of repetitions (such as the reduced version of 144 x 111 cm., with Weiss Gallery, London, 2004).