Portrait of Jan Woverius
Artist
Sir Anthony van Dyck
Flemish, 1599 - 1641
Dateca. 1634
Place of OriginFlanders, Belgium
Place of OriginLondon, United Kingdom
Place of OriginLondon, England
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsStretcher: 18 × 12 1/2 in. (45.7 × 31.8 cm)
Frame Dimensions: 26 1/2 × 21 1/4 in. (67.3 × 54 cm)
Frame Dimensions: 26 1/2 × 21 1/4 in. (67.3 × 54 cm)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineThe Hyde Collection Trust, 1952
Object number1971.52
On View
On viewCollections
DescriptionIn this head-and-shoulders view of a grey-bearded man with thinning hair, his upper torso is angled to the viewer’s right while his eyes turn to stare directly out at viewers. He wears a black doublet, a robe with a brown fur lining, a chemise with a visible white collar, and a gold chain. He is located against a neutral, brownish background.- European Paintings & Sculpture
Jan Woverius (Johannes Woverius, Jan van den Wouwer, Jean Wouverius; 1576-1636), a close friend of Peter Paul Rubens, was a classical scholar and politician, served as an alderman in Antwerp, and became the financial Counselor to Archduke Albert, the Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, and his wife Isabella. His identity in The Hyde work is based on his appearance in a 1632 etching by Paulus Pontius (1603-1658), part of van Dyck’s "Icones principum virorum" of 1646, a series of etched and engraved portraits made from van Dyck’s drawings and paintings of famous men of his day. Several additional portraits of Woverius have been identified, e.g., a half-length version based on The Hyde head by van Dyck in the Pushkin Museum, Moscow; in Peter Paul Rubens’s "Four Philosophers" (1611-12, Pitti Palace, Florence); and a somewhat larger replica or perhaps modello located today in Belton House, Lincolnshire (ca. 1626-36). This last work, attributed to van Dyck, appears to be an accurate replica of The Hyde’s work.
Above text by Penny Howell Jolly, Professor Emerita of Art History, Skidmore College, February 2026
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Jan Woverius, was a respected scholar and politician, alderman in Antwerp & later finance minister to the archduke of Flanders and his wife. He was also a close friend to Rubens.
Text from 2013ProvenanceLondon, England, Percy Moore Turner
by 1930, New York, NY,
1930, Glens Falls, NY, Mr. & Mrs. Louis Hyde
1952, Glens Falls, NY, The Hyde Collection Trust
