Self-Portrait

Anthony van Dyck painted this self-portrait around ca. 1620–21. Oil on canvas, it measures 47 1/8 x 34 5/8 inches. The painting is part of The Jules Bache Collection since 1949. New York.

The portrait shows van Dyck as a young man, shortly before he traveled to Italy. He was working with Peter Paul Rubens in Antwerp at the time.

The canvas was painted during van Dyck’s early years as an independent artist, after he became a master in the Guild of Saint Luke in 1617. He was about 21 years old.

Van Dyck worked briefly in London in 1621 before returning to Flanders. He later traveled to Italy, staying mostly in Genoa until 1627.

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436258