PROPERTY FROM A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION (LOTS 191, 193-5, 197, 199 AND 203)

Circle of Sir Anthony van Dyck (Antwerp 1599-1641 London)

Portrait of George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham (1628-1687), and his brother Lord Francis Villiers (1629-1648), full-length

Details

Circle of Sir Anthony van Dyck (Antwerp 1599-1641 London)
Portrait of George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham (1628-1687), and his brother Lord Francis Villiers (1629-1648), full-length
inscribed 'GEORGIVS DVX BVCKINGHAM / CVM FRATRE FRANCESCO / VAN DYCK 1636' (upper centre)
oil on canvas
63 x 52 ¼ in. (160 x 132.7 cm.)

Provenance

The Earls of Warwick, Warwick Castle, by 1815, and by descent in the family to,
The Trustees of the Warwick Castle Resettlement; Christie's, London, 17 May 1968, lot 84, as 'Van Dyck' (2,000 gns. to Perman).
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 13 July 1988, lot 22.

Literature

W. Field, An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Town and Castle of Warwick, Warwick, 1815, pp. 216-7, as 'Vandyck', listed hanging over the fireplace in the Red Bedchamber.
L. Cust, Anthony Van Dyck: an historical study of his life and works, London, 1900, p. 270, under no. 32, as an autograph repetition.
G. Glück, Van Dyck: des Meisters Gëmalde, in 571 Abbildungen, Stuttgart, 1931, p. 568.
E. Larson, The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck, Lingen, 1988, II, p. 400, under no. 1023.
S. Barnes, et. al., Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven and London, 2004, p. 452, under no. IV.34.

Exhibited

London, South Kensington Museum, Exhibition of National Portraits, 16 April-18 August 1866, no. 623, as 'Vandyck'.

Brought to you by

Maja Markovic

MMarkovic@christies.com +44 (0) 207 389 2090

Lot Essay

Sons of the assassinated Duke of Buckingham (1592-1628), George and Francis Villiers were brought up alongside the future Charles II (1630-1685) in the royal household of Charles I (1600-1649), who had been a devoted friend of their father. Both brothers fought for the Royalist armies during the English Civil War. Francis, who had been praised for his dashing good-looks by the poet Andrew Marvell (1621-1678), fell in 1648 near Kingston-Upon-Thames, but George went onto become one of the rakish favourites at the Restoration Court of his childhood friend, Charles II. Of van Dyck's prime version of the present double portrait (The Royal Collection, inv. no. RCIN 404401) the famous arbiter of taste Horace Walpole (1717-1797) said that 'nothing can exceed the nature, lustre, and delicacy of this sweet picture', which he regarded as 'one of the finest of this master'. The composition has always been much admired, with its influence evident in the child portraiture of leading British artists such as Sir Joshua Reynolds, P.R.A. (1723-1792) and Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788).

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