Reversing the roles: Van Dyck's portrait of Lady Elizabeth Thimbleby with her sister Dorothy Savage

• Autores: Walter Liedtke
• Localización: Burlington magazine, ISSN 0007-6287, Vol. 151, Nº 1271, 2009, págs. 79-83
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • An essay considering the subject matter of one of the 17th-century Dutch artist Anthony van Dyck's great double-portraits of the 1630s, acquired by the National Gallery, London, in 1976. The writers suggest that, contrary to general belief, the figure to the right of the painting is not Dorothy Savage, Viscountess Andover, but rather her sister Elizabeth, Lady Thimbleby, who is generally thought to be the figure to the left. Positing the likely date of the portrait as 1635, they also advise reconsideration of the idea that the painting refers to Dorothy's marriage. They go on to suggest that, if their identification of the figure of the unmarried Dorothy Savage is accurate, then it is likely to be she who is portrayed in a later painting, in a private collection, heretofore known as Elizabeth, Lady Thimbleby.