Sir Anthony van Dyck
Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange
1630-1631
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Sir Anthony van Dyck
Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange
1630-1631
Physical Qualities
Oil on canvas, 45 x 38 in. (114.3 x 96.5 cm.)
Credit Line
The Mary Frick Jacobs Collection
Object Number
1938.217
Dressed in gleaming armor and a lace collar, this formal portrait of Frederik Hendrik (1584-1647) illustrates his role as an important military and political leader during the Eighty Years' War (1568-1648). As the elected stadhouder (governor) of the northern Dutch provinces, Frederik Hendrik led military forces against Spain, which controlled the southern provinces of the Netherlands. He was instrumental in unifying the Dutch Republic to gain full independence from Spain in 1648.
Frederik Hendrik and his wife, Amalia van Solms (1602-1675), established a fashionable court in The Hague and patronized many successful artists. The couple particularly admired Anthony van Dyck's dynamic and graceful portrait style. Despite the hostilities between the north and south, van Dyck remained politically neutral and worked for distinguished patrons on both sides of the conflict.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by bequest, 1938; Mary Frick Jacobs by purchase, February 1930; Duveen Brothers, London, by purchase, July 1929; House of Anhalt-Dessau/Schloss Wörlitz, 1747; Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Dessau; Johanna Charlotte, Margarvine of Brandenburg-Schwedt, by bequest; 1708; Henrietta Catherina, wife of Prince Johann Georg II of Anhalt-Dessau, by bequest, 1675; Amalia van Solms, Noordeinde Palace, The Hague, 1673
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, "The Orange and the Rose," October - December 1964, ill. p. 30.
Denver Art Museum, "Baroque Art," October 3 - November 15, 1971, p. 81, ill. p. 80.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., "Anthony Van Dyck: Paintings in the Grand Manner," November 11, 1990 - February 24, 1991, pp. 221-225, ill. pp. 2, 223.
MFA Boston, "Class Distinctions: Dutch Paintings in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer,"
October 11, 2015 - January 18, 2016, cat. no. 4, ill., tour to Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, February 20-May 22, 2016
Denver Art Museum, "Baroque Art," October 3 - November 15, 1971, p. 81, ill. p. 80.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., "Anthony Van Dyck: Paintings in the Grand Manner," November 11, 1990 - February 24, 1991, pp. 221-225, ill. pp. 2, 223.
MFA Boston, "Class Distinctions: Dutch Paintings in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer,"
October 11, 2015 - January 18, 2016, cat. no. 4, ill., tour to Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, February 20-May 22, 2016
Jules Guiffrey, "Antoine Van Dyck, sa vie et son oeuvre," 1882, p. 131.
Lionel Cust, "Anthony Van Dyck," New and London: Hodden and Stoughton, 1911, pp. 252-254.
Emil Schaeffer, "Van Dyck des Meisters Gemälde," 1909, p. 507.
"Bull. Kon. Museum van Schoone Kunsten," Brussels, VIII, 1919, pp. 44-45.
F.W. Hudig, "Frederik Hendrik en de kunst van zijn tijd," 1928.
Gustav Gluck, "Van Dyck," New York: Kleinberger, 1931, p. 556, ill. p. 336.
"The Collection of Mary Frick Jacobs," Baltimore: Dr. Henry Barton Jacobs, 1938, ill. pl. 64.
Duveen Brothers, "Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America: A Catalogue Raisonné with Three Hundred Illustrations of Paintings by the Great Masters, which have passed through the House of Duveen," New York: The William Bradford Press, 1941, cat. no., 187, b&w ill.
M. Mauquoy-Hendrickx, "L'Iconographi e d'Antoine van Dyck," Catalogue Raisonné, Brussels, 1956, no. 151, ill. p. 310.
D.F. Slothouwer, "De paleizen van Frederik Hendrik," 1945 N.K.J., 1948-50, pp. 118-64.
Erik Larsen, "The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck," Lithographie, Luca Verlag Freren, 1988, cat. no. 554, p. 224, b&w ill. p. 245.
Arthur K. Wheelock and Susan J. Barnes, "Anthony van Dyck," Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, pp. 236-237, ill.
Simon Schama, "Rembrandt's Eyes," New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999, ill. p. 32
Susan J. Barnes, "Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings," New Haven: Yale University, 2004, cat. no. III.112, pp. 338-339, ill. p. 338.
Roni Baer, "Class Distinctions: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer," Boston, 2015, cat. no. 4, color ill.
Stijn Alsteens and Adam Eaker, "Van Dyck: The Anatomy of Portraiture," New York, The Frick Collection, 2026, pp.186-188, 189n3, fig. 110.
On View at the BMA
