Prince Charles Louis (1617–1680) and Prince Rupert (1619–1682)

ArtistWorkshop copy after Anthony van Dyck Flemish, 1599–1641, active in Great Britain

Datecirca 1637–1638

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions50 x 56 in. (127 x 142.2 cm)
Frame: 60 1/8 x 67 1/2 x 4 1/2 in. (152.7 x 171.4 x 11.4 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the State of North Carolina

Object number52.9.96

On View

On view

ProvenanceCreated London, ca. 1637–1638. Probably William Craven, 5th Baron Craven (1705-1769), as Portrait of Maurice and Rupert. [1] Possibly Charles Townshend (1728–1810), Lord Ailwyn, Honingham Hall, Norfolk, England; Charles Frederick Townshend (1785–1823), 1st Lord Bayning, Honingham Hall, Norfolk, England, by 1820; by descent to Henry William Powlett Townshend (1797–1866), 3rd Lord Bayning, Honingham Hall, Norfolk. Arthur Ronald Nall-Cain, 2nd Baron Brocket (1904–1967), Bramshill House, Hampshire, England; [Sotheby’s, London, July 16, 1952, no. 94, as Van Dyck, Portrait of Maurice and Rupert] [2]; [Koetser Gallery, New York]; sold to NCMA, 1952.

[1] Listed on page 12 of “An Inventory of Household Goods, Plate, Linnen, China, Glass, Pictures &c. &c. Belonging to The Right Honbl William Lord Craven taken This ____ Day of June 1769, at Combe Abbey, in Warwickshire. Viz.”, under No. 25, “Lady Craven’s Dressing room”: “The Princes Maurice & Rupert, in one picture === by Vandyke.”

[2] The painting was catalogued in 1820, 1865, and 1952 (the Sotheby’s sale listed above) as a painting of Maurice and Rupert by Van Dyck. The Combe Abbey inventory cannot be referring to the primary version of the composition, now in the Musée du Louvre (Inv. 1238), since it was in the collection of Louis XIV already in 1683, having been sold from the collection of Charles I after his death in 1649. It should also be noted that there is no record of Van Dyck painting a double portrait of Maurice and Rupert. He painted full-length pendant portraits of them upon a visit to The Hague in 1632, but the present picture was painted in London when Charles Louis and Rupert were there in 1637-38. Van Dyck could not have also painted a portrait of Maurice and Rupert at the same time, as Maurice was in France during this period and did not come to London until 1642, a year after Van Dyck’s death.

Published ReferencesLionel Cust, Anthony van Dyck, an historical study of his life and works (London: G. Bell and Sons, 1900), 267, cat. no. 50 (repetition). Algernon Graves, A century of loan exhibitions (London: A Graves, 1913-15), vol. 4 (1914), 1500 and 1506, as Van Dyck, Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice. Gustav Glück, Van Dyck: des Meisters Gemälde (New York: F. Kleinberger, 1931), 569, cat. no. S. 441, in workshop, school, and later copies after Van Dyck. "Catalogue of Old Master Paintings" (auction catalogue) (London: Sotheby's, July 16, 1952), lot 94, as Van Dyck, Portrait of Maurice and Rupert. W. R. Valentiner, Catalogue of Paintings: Including Three Sets of Tapestries (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1956), no. 115, illus. (b-w), as Van Dyck. Life (December 10, 1956), illus. Carolina Charter Tercentenary Exhibition (exhibition catalogue) (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1963), cat. no. 72, illus. (b-w). Melissa Clement, Fayetteville, NC: The Fayetteville Observer (June 8, 1977). Johanna Seltz, Raleigh: The News and Observer (May 29, 1977). Oliver Millar, Van Dyck in England (exhibition catalogue) (London: National Portrait Gallery, 1982), 75, as an early copy after Van Dyck. Erik Larsen, The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck (Freren: Luca-Verlag, 1988), vol. 2, 498, cat. no. A 255/1. Jo Allen and Gil Leebrick, eds., Robert Lee Humber: A Collector Creates (exhibition catalogue) (Greenville, NC: The College of Arts and Sciences and The School of Art, East Carolina University, 1996), illus. (color) 33. Susan J. Barnes, Van Dyck: the complete catalogue of the paintings (New Haven, CT & London: Yale University Press, 2004), 486. Dennis P. Weller, Seventeenth-Century Dutch and Flemish Paintings [Systematic Catalogue of the Collection] (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 2009), cat. no. 52, illus. (color) 249. Fernando Montesinos, Historia Breve de Pintura Ocidental (Coimbra, Portugal: Coimbra University Press, 2010), illus. (b-w) 124. Blaise Ducos, Antoon Van Dyck: Catalogue raisonné des tableaux du musée du Louvre (Paris, musée du Louvre éditions, 2023), 213-214, illus. (color) 214, as Attributed to François Albert Stiémart after Antoon Van Dyck, Les Princes palatins, before 1715.

Exhibition HistoryLondon, British Institution, 1820 and 1865; 1820: cat. no. 85 Raleigh, NC North Carolina Museum of Art, "Carolina Charter Tercentenary Exhibition," March 23-April 28, 1963, cat. no. 72, illus. (b-w). Richmond, VA, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, "Masterpieces from the North Carolina Museum of Art," March 11-April 13, 1975. Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Prince Henry and His Times," May 29-July 3, 1977. Durham, NC, Duke University Museum of Art, "Ten Dutch and Flemish Paintings," October 1995-May 1996. Greenville, NC, Wellington B. Gray Gallery, East Carolina University "Robert Lee Humber: A Collector Creates," November 1-23, 1996, illus. (color) 33. Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present.

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