Artist: Anthony Van Dyck
Date: 1700
Size: 114 x 85 cm
Technique: Oil On Canvas
The identity of the sitter is established by Pieter de Jode II’s (1606-1674) engraving of a variant of this portrait for Anthony van Dyck’s Iconography.6 There Hendrik Liberti (c. 1600-1669) is described as organist of the Antwerp cathedral to which post he was appointed on 17 March 1628; a native of Groningen, he was early a chorister in the Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk. A composer, primarily of vocal music, and virtuoso performer, he turned down an offer in 1635 to become court organist in Brussels. He was then described as ‘a very expert master, first musician and organist in the Netherlands’.7 The age of the Rijksmuseum portrait is difficult to estimate because of the old discoloured varnish; it connects with the possibly prime version which was owned by King Charles I of Great Britain (1600-1649) by 1639-40, and which is now in the collection of the Phoebus Foundation on loan to the Rubenshuis, Antwerp.8 Studio versions are in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich, and the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid.9 The present work is likely to be somewhat later, particularly as the base of the column resting on the plinth is misunderstood. The painting engraved by De Jode differs in the placement of the hand and score on the plinth; it must have been made after another version then in Antwerp, where De Jode was active. The sitter wears a three-looped gold chain; it was presumably awarded as a mark of the esteem following his prestigious appointment. He holds a music score for voices showing two bars and lyrics; the score on the Phoebus Foundation portrait was no longer legible (at the time of its recent public sale). The score differs from that shown in De Jode’s print but looks to be the same as that on the version in Madrid. With head raised and alert eyes, Liberti is perhaps shown about to sing. Gregory Martin, 2022
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