The secrets of Van Dyck's Andalusian Horse - including the hidden painting on the back | Christie's

Описание: Join Olivia Ghosh, Christie's Old Masters specialist, as she uncovers the secrets of Anthony Van Dyck's An Andalusian Horse as the painting undergoes infrared imaging at Art Analysis in Paris.

When Van Dyck's forceful image of equine power — long regarded as a preparatory work for a painting of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor — last came to auction in 2000, a conservator removed a relining canvas to reveal an image that had been unknown for centuries. The landmark work is offered in London on 3 December.

The picture coming to auction has long been regarded as a preparatory work for a portrait Van Dyck made of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, on horseback. That portrait dates from around the same year, 1621, and is found in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

It is Van Dyck’s earliest surviving piece of equestrian portraiture, a genre he helped take to new heights in the mid-17th century. His two pictures of King Charles I of England on horseback from the 1630s — painted during a decade when he lived in London, and today found in the Royal Collection and the National Gallery — rank among the most famous equestrian portraits in the history of Western painting.

The painting was last offered for sale at Christie’s in 2000, and it was around then that a conservator removed a relining canvas that had been applied at some point to the back of An Andalusian horse. A rare landscape study was discovered on the reverse of Van Dyck’s canvas.

Unknown for centuries, A wooded landscape — a sketch occupies an important place in the artist’s oeuvre. Though Van Dyck is recorded as having painted a number of independent landscape pictures, this is his only surviving work in oils in that genre. Executed in loose brushstrokes, it shows a steep, tree-covered bank on the left, which slopes down to a lake where a dog is seen drinking.

Explore art from antiquity to the 21st century at Classic Week, 26 November to 12 December 2024 at Christie’s in London. On view from 29 November.

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