Page 11 - Giornalino Barsanti Marzo 2021

GALLERIA PALATINA Teacher’s

Worksheet 4

Cardinal Bentivoglio by Antoine Van Dyck

Van Dyck wanted to rewrite the rules of portraiture. And by 1623
he more or less had, to judge by his “Portrait of Cardinal Bentivo-
glio”. Painted in Rome shortly after Van Dyck had left Antwerp
(and the employ of Rubens) to study the work of Italian artists
such as Titian, “Cardinal Bentivoglio” was and still is regarded as
a masterpiece of portraiture. Based on Titian’s “Portrait of Pope
Paul III” but effortlessly surpassing it, Van Dyck makes Bentivoglio

seem as alive as anyone ever has been on a piece of canvas.
Naturally, Bentivoglio is presented as rich and powerful, but he is
never overwhelmed by the props that tell us who he is. His red
cardinal’s robe is crumpled and lived-in, and above all is worn
by a real person. Bentivoglio’s head is painted with such originali-
ty and deftness that we notice what he was like before we noti-

ce what he was. Although it is dangerous to believe we can see
character in any portrait, Van Dyck’s Bentivoglio seems entirely
like the man described by Cardinal Mazarin: “a sweet nature
[with] noble thoughts, prudent, wise, experienced, witty, inge-
nious, and disinterested”.
In the background, a red curtain, white flowers, lots of stacked
books and a white letter laid casually on a table, stress the daily
reality of the scene.