Van Dyck en España

Medal/Award in the category Research in the year 2014.

Applicant: Silvia Felip.

Reason for the award :

The jury was intrigued by the illuminating study on the previously little-known connections between the painter, Spain, and the Habsburg court.

Through the themes of the painter, the portrayed characters, and the religious scenes, the author shows us how Van Dyck’s painting was part of a pan-European course with complex relationships between the various Habsburg courts.

This extensive publication has contributed considerably to expanding our concept of an artist of the importance of Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641), a Flemish painter follower of Rubens, a great portraitist and painter of the religious genre, and his relationship with the territories of the empire under Spain in the seventeenth century. In this book of more than 900 pages, Professor Matías Díaz Padrón compiles an investigation that has taken him more than thirty years of study. In it, he shows that, until now, our vision of Van Dyck had been limited to the artist’s work in Antwerp, Genoa, Sicily, Naples, and London. Through the different themes of the painter, the portrayed characters, and the religious scenes, the author shows us how Van Dyck’s painting was part of a pan-European current reflecting the complex relationships between the various Hapsburg courts. Particularly his relations with Spain, studied through his portraits and his influence in Antwerp, offer the opportunity to meet the artist from a hitherto unprecedented perspective.

This book will undoubtedly be of great use to researchers in subsequent studies on the provenance of the works of Van Dyck and his followers. Professor Matías Díaz Padrón also shows how many of the artworks currently exhibited in galleries and private collections around the world are of Spanish origin. This work will be an essential tool for future students and art lovers.

Publicaciones del Instituto Moll

Others awards in National scope: