DYCK, Sir Anthony van
(b. 1599, Antwerpen, d. 1641, London)

Philip, Lord Wharton

1632
Oil on canvas, 133 x 106 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington

The nineteen-year-old Philip, Lord Wharton was one of the first people to be portrayed by Van Dyck in England. The gentle tones of the landscape lend particular delicacy to the noble features. The reference to Arcadia suggests Neoplatonic ideals of beauty and idyllic love; here the painter as alluding to the occasion for the portrait, the marriage of the young lord.