Van Dyck's English Period and Cavalier Poetry

Abstract

ERIK LARSEN is a professor of the history of art at the University of Kansas. This article was originally delivered as a lecture to the Royal Society of Arts, London, and was published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, Vol. CXVIII, No. 5172, November, 1970. He is currently engaged in a major multi-volume study of the paintings of 'Van l)yck and a catalogue raisonne. V cades more intimately focused upon the overpowering personality of Rubens, but currently the favour of the public and of cognoscenti turns back to Van Dyck's distinction, elegance and fleeting neuroticism; which fit exceedingly well into the framework of contemporary artistic taste and popular psychology. The versatility of the painter finds expression in his evolution. Some art historians speak of constant characteristics that can be found in Van Dyck's style throughout his career. In fact, his manner changes appreciably during the various divisions, which have been separated by Gustav Gluck into the first Antwerp, the Italian, the second Antwerp and finally the English periods. It is ,quite true that the artist's style cannot be traced according to a graphic curve of development. However, from the late years of his first Antwerp period onwards, we normally encounter in his portraits elements of distinction and elegance, elongation of heads, bodies and hands, that seem to show up with sufficient repetition for us to

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