Sir Anthony Van Dyck
Sir Anthony Van Dyck, (1599-1641). Flemish portrait painter. He began his career in Rubens’s Antwerp workshop and in 1620 became court painter to James I. He soon left England to travel to Italy, where he painted some fine portraits of the Genoese nobility but returned to England in 1632 to become court painter to Charles I. He painted a number of famous portraits of the king, including an equestrian portrait and a triple portrait, as well as pictures of the royal family.