Portrait of Pieter Breughel (II the youngster)
Production date
1630 – 1640
Object number
PK.OP.12456
Dimensions
159 mm x 251 mm
Keywords

Pieter Brueghel the Younger looks directly at the viewer; it is striking that he is somewhat cross-eyed. In his right hand he holds a rolled-up piece of paper, the right arm is supported by the draped cloak, alluding to a Roman toga. Van Dyck probably started on the preparation for his Iconography or 'Icones Principum Virorum' immediately after his return from Italy. Originally the Iconography was a collection of portraits of artists and art collectors, but later the project was extended to portraits of monarchs, commanding officers, statesmen and scholars. It was Van Dyck’s intention to personally etch the faces and to have the clothing and background finished by an engraver, but he himself only etched 18 portraits of mainly fellow-artists who were his friends. This etching of the portrait of Pieter Brueghel the Younger was also created completely by Anthony van Dyck. Afterwards Van Dyck called on the assistance of Paulus Pontius, Schelte Adamsz Bolswert, Pieter de Jode, and Lucas Vorsterman, engravers with whom he may well already have worked in Rubens’s workshop. Most of the prints in the Iconography were based on drawings from life that Van Dyck himself made with a view to his Iconography. As preparation for this etching Van Dyck made a drawing which is now in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire in Chatsworth (England).

CC BY (Creative Commons 4.0)

Other artworks of this artist

Two studies of a Man’s Head
Bearing of the Cross
Saint Martin
Christ on the cross
Jupiter and Antiope
The lamentation over the dead Christ
The Lamentation over the Dead Christ
Christ on the Cross between the two thieves
Christ on the Cross
Infante Isabella Clara Eugenia
The Painter Marten Pepijn
Equestrial Portrait of the Painter Cornelis de Wael
Portrait of Paulus Pontius
Portrait of Pieter Breughel (II the youngster)
Portrait of Frans Francken
Christ and the woman taken in adultery
Christ carrying the Cross
The Vision of St Francis
Anthony van Dyck