Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641)
Orazio Gentileschi, ca. 1635
Black chalk, gray wash, pen and brown ink; incised for transfer
9 3/8 × 7 in. (24 × 17.9 cm)
The British Museum, London
In the early years of the seventeenth century, Orazio Gentileschi worked as a painter in Rome, where he came under the influence of Caravaggio. His career then took him to Turin, Genoa, Paris, and finally the court of Charles I in London, where he was joined by his daughter, Artemisia, also a painter. Van Dyck shows the artist, who was known for his difficult personality, looking out at the viewer in a surly manner. The general composition seems to have been based on Italian prototypes, the work of Titian above all, present in the collections of Charles I in London.