A Genoese Lady with Her Child
Anthony van Dyck (Flemish, 1599–1641)
c. 1623–25
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Framed: 266.5 x 184 x 12 cm (104 15/16 x 72 7/16 x 4 3/4 in.); Unframed: 217.8 x 146 cm (85 3/4 x 57 1/2 in.)
- Culture
- Flanders
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Gift of the Hanna Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Prior to the 1600s, large, full-length portraits of wealthy clients usually emphasized the trappings of status above any other qualities. The accuracy of the likeness and vivacity of the person remained subordinate to an easily readable sense of the sitter’s power and position in society. Artists such as Van Dyck transformed this tradition, which sent shockwaves through Genoa, instantly changing the direction of elite portraiture in the city. While the elaborate garb of this unidentified sitter and the scale of the image certainly mark her status, the warmth Van Dyck imparted to her face, the drama of the background, and the touching detail of the child spontaneously reaching upward add life, energy, and theatricality to the work.
