Christ Crowned with Thorns (van Dyck) Christ Crowned with Thorns (van Dyck) Christ Crowned with Thorns is a 1619-20 painting by Anthony van Dyck. He produced it aged 20 during his first Antwerp period, when he was the main studio assistant and pupil of Peter Paul Rubens. It shows Rubens' influence in its relatively sombre palette, chiaroscuro and highly realistic portrayal of musculature. He seems to have completed it early during his stay in Italy, since it also shows the influence of Titian and other Venetian painters in Jesus' face. Once it was complete, van Dyck offered the painting to Rubens, who declined it. It was
Anthony van Dyck his nine-month visit, during which he was knighted. Charles's court portraitist, Daniel Mytens, was a somewhat pedestrian Dutchman. Charles was very short, less than tall, and presented challenges to a portrait artist. Van Dyck had remained in touch with the English court and had helped King Charles's agents in their search for pictures. He had also sent back some of his own works, including a portrait (1623) of himself with Endymion Porter, one of Charles's agents, a mythological work, "Rinaldo and Armida" (1629, now in the Baltimore Museum of Art), and a religious picture for the Queen. He had also