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Portrait of Hendrick van Balen

Creator

Flemish Artist · 1599–1641

The seventh of twelve children born to a wealthy silk merchant in Belgium, Anthony van Dyck began to paint at an early age. By the age of nineteen, he had become a teacher in Antwerp. Soon afterward, he collaborated and trained with the famous Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens. In his early twenties, van Dyck went to Italy, where he studied the paintings of Titian and Paolo Veronese and worked as

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Date: about 1627–1632
Medium: Black chalk
Culture: Flemish
Department: Drawings
Institution: Getty Museum

Anthony Van Dyck's former teacher, Hendrick van Balen, lived in Antwerp and painted religious and mythological themes. Van Dyck made this portrait as a study for a print that was part of a series known as *The Iconography*. This series was a collection of portraits of distinguished artists, soldiers, statesmen, administrators, and scholars of the early 1600s. Using only black chalk, Van Dyck created a striking characterization of his old teacher. By placing Van Balen's right hand on the head of an antique bust while his left presses a soft cloth close to his chest, Van Dyck effectively suggested the erudition and refined personality of his mentor.

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