Room 21

Stand far enough back to take in the horse as well as the rider in Van Dyck’s Equestrian Portrait of Charles I. The size of the painting and the viewpoint both contribute to the king’s authority. A portrait could make a political claim through the way a body occupied space. Anthony van Dyck trained in Antwerp in Rubens’s circle, worked in Italy and became Charles I’s court painter in London in 1632. The portraits here show the range of people who sought his skill. Compare the royal image with a smaller likeness, looking especially at the hands, the fall of cloth and how directly the sitter meets your eye.