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Self-Portrait as Icarus with Daedalus
Anthony van Dyck (Flemish, 1599–1641)
about 1618
Medium/TechniqueOil on canvas
Dimensions112.4 x 93 cm (44 1/4 x 36 5/8 in.)
Credit LineGift of Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo, in support of the Center for Netherlandish Art
Accession Number2022.1916
ON VIEW
Art of the Netherlands in the 17th Century Gallery (Gallery 242)
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
In the 16th and 17th centuries, there was a fashion for portraits that were filled with symbols or even set as episodes from myths or religious stories. In this unusual painting, nineteen-year-old Van Dyck depicts himself as the mythological figure of Icarus. Imprisoned by King Minos on the island of Crete, Icarus’s father, Daedalus, fashioned wings of wax and feathers so that he and his son could fly away. But young, impetuous Icarus flew too close to the sun and, when the wax melted, fell to his death. The painting’s exact meaning remains a mystery.
ProvenanceProbably Bishop Anthonius Triest (b. 1576 – d. 1657), Ghent; by descent within the family [see note 1]. Possibly March 30, 1771, anonymous (consigned from abroad) sale, Christie’s, London, lot 61 [see note 2]. John Bertels (dealer; b. 1727 – d. 1792), Brussels; April 23-24, 1776, anonymous (Bertels) sale, Walsh, London, lot 72 [see note 3]. By 1778, Richard Payne Knight (b. 1751 – d. 1824) [see note 4]; by descent to his cousin, Edward Knight (b. 1734 – d. 1812), Wolverly, Worcestershire; to his nephew, John Knight (b. 1767 - d. 1850), Portland Place, London; March 23, 1819, Knight sale, Philips, London, lot 146, to Norton. Hugh Duncan Baillie (b. 1777 – d. 1866), Bristol; March 6, 1824, anonymous (Baillie) sale, Christie’s, London, lot 90 [see note 5], sold to Norton for Prince Christopher (Khristofor Andreevich) von Lieven (b. 1774 – d. 1839), London; July 17, 1834, Lieven sale, Phillips, London, lot 33, sold to Farrer [see note 6]. Edward William Lake (d. 1847); July 11, 1845, Lake sale, Christie's London, lot 121, bought in; April 7, 1848, posthumous Lake sale, Christie’s, London, lot 119, sold to Dr. Ralph Fletcher (b. 1780 - d. 1851), Gloucester; June 28, 1851, Fletcher sale, Christie's, London, lot 59, probably unsold; by descent to his son, Ralph Fletcher (b. 1812); 1857, sold by Fletcher to Norton [see note 7]. June 1, 1861, anonymous ("Property of a Gentleman leaving his Town Residence") sale, Christie’s, London, lot 89, bought in. Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar (b. 1797 - d. 1864), Ross, Scotland; June 1, 1878, Munro estate sale, Christie's, London, lot 133, sold to Sir George Donaldson (dealer; b. 1845 – d. 1925), London. Mary Ethel Burns, Dowager Viscountess Harcourt (b. 1881 - d. 1961), London; November 24, 1961, posthumous Viscountess Harcourt and others sale, Christie's, London, lot 58, sold to Davidge; bought back and then passed by descent through the Harcourt family [note 8]; December 4, 2014, Harcourt family sale, Sotheby's, London, lot 184, sold to Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, London, and Adam Williams Fine Art, New York; 2016, sold by Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox and Adam Williams Fine Art to Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo, Naples, FL [see note 9]; 2022, gift of Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 6, 2022) NOTES: [2] In the March 28-30, 1771 Christie’s, London sale, “A Catalogue of a Most Capital and Valuable Collection of Pictures (Lately Consigned from Abroad),” Dedallus applying wings to his son Icarus by van Dyck is listed as lot 61. The description for the painting reads, “…the attitude is very graceful, at the same time it is known to be Vandyck’s own portrait, when a youth; there is amazing force of colouring and harmony throughout the whole of this capital picture, and is justly deemed one of the most valuable of this master.” Although the description and dimensions are close to that of the MFA’s painting, there exist other paintings of the same subject matter, with attributions to van Dyck or his followers, that could also be the painting described. [3] The consigner information is according to the Getty Provenance Index database (catalogue Br-A1070). [4] According to van der Stighelen, 2017 (see above, note 1), a mezzotint by John Watts in 1778 notes the painting is in the collection of “Richd Knight Esqr.” [5] The consigner and buyer information is according to the Getty Provenance Index database (catalogue Br-2547). [6] Sale information according to the Getty Provenance Index database (catalogue Br-4307). [7] Provenance from 1848-1857 is according to Lionel Cust, Anthony van Dyck: An Historical Study of his Life and Works (London, 1900), cat. no. 55. See also George Redford, Art Sales: A History of Sales of Pictures and other Works of Art, vol. 2 (London, 1888), pp. 340-342. [8] According to van der Stighelen, 2017 (see above, note 1), the Harcourt family lent the painting to the National Trust in the early 2000s. The Trust displayed the painting at Clandon Park, Surrey. [9] Provenance from 2014-2016 is according to Frederik J. Duparc, Dutch and Flemish Masterworks: From the Rose-Marie and Eijk van Otterloo Collection (Boston, 2020), p. 44. Eijk and Rose-Marie van Otterloo lent the painting to Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT in 2017.
[1] According to the 1776 sale catalogue, the seller, John Bertels, asserted the painting came from the family of the bishop of Ghent. Bishop Anthonius Triest was a patron of contemporary Antwerp painters. He commissioned van Dyck to paint his portrait in 1627 and a Crucifixion for the high altar of the Capuchin church in Dendermonde, near Ghent in 1629. An inventory of Triest’s collection does not survive, nor is the collection detailed in his will of 1657. His sister Maria Triest was his chief heir, but no inventory of her possessions is extant. See Katlijne van der Stighelen, “Paternal love: Van Dyck’s early ‘Daedalus and Icarus’ rediscovered,” Burlington Magazine 69 (February 2017), pp. 100-102.
