Arts Minister Places Temporary Export Bar On A Painting By Van Dyck
Minister of State for the Arts, Tessa Blackstone, has placed a temporary bar on a study of a grey stallion with a recently discovered landscape sketch on the reverse. The sketch is our only evidence of how the five lost Van Dyck landscapes listed in collections in Antwerp in the 17th century might look. The temporary bar will provide a last chance to raise the money to keep the painting in the United Kingdom.
The Minister's ruling follows a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art that the export decision be deferred. This reflects the outstanding significance of the painting for the study of Van Dyck's working methods and the history of landscape.
The deferral will enable purchase offers to be made at the following agreed fair market price:
A modello of a bridled grey stallion (recto) and a landscape (verso) by Sir Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641), deferred at the recommended price of just over £837,000 (including VAT) until after 29 January 2003. The deferral period could be extended until after 29 April 2003 if there is a serious intention to raise funds with a view to making an offer to purchase.
Anyone interested in making an offer to purchase the painting should contact the owner's agent through:
The Secretary, The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 2-4 Cockspur Street, London SW1Y 5DH
NOTES TO EDITORS
Pictures of this item can be downloaded free of charge from our site on PA Picselect. Please go to the DCMS folder situation within the Arts section of Picselect either at http://www.papicselect.com/ or through the PA bulletin board.
This large sketch (oil on canvas, 130.8 x 105.4 cm) was one of the principal works retained by the Gambier Parry family when the majority of the collection was bequeathed to the Courtauld Institute. It had been bought by Thomas Gambier Parry (1816-88) from R P Nicholls in London in 1859, although its earlier provenance is uncertain. Gambier Parry's 1863 catalogue states that the work had been seen by Lady Herbert at Wilton House and had subsequently gone missing during the minority of the 12th Earl of Pembroke. Anthony Blunt discovered no trace of the picture in early records of Wilton, thereby raising the possibility of human error, or the likelihood that the picture was, at one time, kept at Carlton House Terrace, the Pembrokes' London residence.
Until recently the landscape on the reverse of this sketch had been covered by a lining canvas. It is not known why or when the landscape was covered. Neither the Gambier Parry catalogues nor exhibition catalogues (which post-date the Gambier Parry purchase) mention the reverse of the canvas. Until this discovery, our appreciation of Van Dyck's portrayal of landscape had been limited to small-scale drawings in pen and ink and watercolour. This sketch is our only evidence of how the five lost landscapes listed in collections in Antwerp in the 17th century might look. The same loose, impasto technique, reminiscent of Titian's late work is visible in the background of Van Dyck's Portrait of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel (Getty Museum, c.1620-21); evidence of both sitter and artist's appreciation of la maniera veneziana. The composition of the sketch is closely mirrored in a Titianesque drawing (pen and brush and brown ink) at Chatsworth (inv.959).
The obverse, depicting an Andalusian horse, has been recognized by Susan Barnes as a modello for the Equestrian Portrait of Charles V (Uffizi Gallery). The portrait, however, is considered to be studio work, and subtle differences are readily perceived between the two. It is probable that this sketch forms part of a series, of which that in Dulwich appears to represent an earlier phase of resolution. Like the Gambier Parry sketch (the upper part of the canvas had been cut off, probably by the artist himself), other Van Dyck horse studies appear to have been cut from larger compositions and deserve further research. As the work is so exceptional there is no consensus on the dating of the landscape, but a 1620-1624 range would seem plausible. (The horse would seem to have been painted between 1618 and 1621.)
These sketches demonstrate the speed at which the artist worked and also the readiness to abandon certain compositions. The way in which the canvas was turned over and worked upon, unprimed, lends invaluable insight into Van Dyck's artistic practice and technique. He is an artist of prime importance to England's heritage and although his oeuvre is well documented in English collections, nothing is comparable to this unique work.
The recommended price at which the application to export the painting is deferred, is £837,516.75 (including VAT).
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