Anthony van Dyck
On this day in 1599 Anton van Dyck, one of the greatest baroque painter was born. He became the leading court painter in England, after enjoying great success in Italy and Flanders. He is most famous for his portraits of Charles I of England and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance that was to be the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next 150 years.
This Self-portrait with a sunflower, now in the private collection of the Duke of Westminster was produced at the height of his fame, while he was 'principal Paynter in order to their Majesties' at the court of Charles I of England, who also knighted him. He wears the gold chain given to him by Charles and holds a large sunflower, whose symbolism is much debated. The sunflower seems to mirror the artist’s pose. Van Dyck represents himself as the ideal courtier, whose devotion to his monarch is likened to the flower’s natural inclination to follow the path of the sun, while he also promotes a claim for the nobility of pictorial art.