Anthony van Dyck self portrait (Metropolitan Museum of Art) Anthony van Dyck self portrait (Metropolitan Museum of Art) The Metropolitan Museum of Art possesses in its collection a self portrait painted by Flemish artist Anthony van Dyck. Done in oil on canvas, the work depicts its creator during his early twenties. The self portrait was likely painted by van Dyck during the winter of 1620-1621, which the artist spent in London. van Dyck chose to render a depiction of himself as a country gentlemen dressed in fine clothes; he likely acquired these clothes due to his father being a wealthy clothier. The painting was donated to the Met by
Anthony van Dyck majority of his most important patrons in the nobility, such as Lord Wharton and the Earls of Bedford, Northumberland and Pembroke, took the Parliamentarian side in the English Civil War that broke out soon after his death. The King in Council by letters patent granted van Dyck "denizenship" in 1638, and he married Mary, the daughter of Patrick Ruthven, who, although the title was forfeited, styled himself Lord Ruthven. She was a Lady-in-waiting to the Queen, in 1639-40; this may have been instigated by the King in an attempt to keep him in England. He had spent most of 1634