Saint Martin and the Beggar (van Dyck) Saint Martin and the Beggar (van Dyck) Saint Martin and the Beggar is a c.1618 painting of Saint Martin of Tours by the Flemish painter Anthony van Dyck. The painting portrays the saint sharing his cloak with a beggar. It had been in van Dyck's studio for some time by 1621 and may have been completed around 1618. In 1621 he was commissioned by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Brabant, Ferdinand de Boisschot, to deliver a painting of St Martin for the church dedicated to that saint in Zaventem. Van Dyck gave him this painting in fulfilment of the
Crucifixion (van Dyck) in 1621 as the high altarpiece for the Jesuit church at the abbaye Saint-Winnoq in Bergues, now in the musée du Louvre. The second work's composition is more original, with a less central cross in an oblique position to give depth to the scene. The sky and the Magdalene's hair show the influence of the Venetian masters van Dyck had seen during his time in Italy. It was seized during the French Revolution and in 1795 it was part of the founding collection of the Palais des beaux-arts de Lille, where it still resides. The three colours worn by the