The Betrayal of Christ (van Dyck, Bristol) The Betrayal of Christ (van Dyck, Bristol) The Betrayal of Christ is a c.1618-20 painting by Anthony van Dyck. He also produced two other versions of the same subject at around the same time, now in Madrid and Minneapolis. It was acquired by Paul Methuen. He bequeathed it to his cousin and godson Paul Methuen in 1757, who displayed it at Corsham Court. It remained in the family until 1984, when it was accepted by the UK government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, which continues to hang it at Corsham Court. It
Anthony van Dyck portrait tradition—of painters such as William Dobson, Robert Walker and Isaac Fuller—into what certainly became elegant blandness in the hands of many of van Dyck's successors, like Lely or Kneller. The conventional view has always been more favourable: "When Van Dyck came hither he brought Face-Painting to us; ever since which time ... England has excel'd all the World in that great Branch of the Art’ (Jonathan Richardson: "An Essay on the Theory of Painting", 1715, 41). Thomas Gainsborough is reported to have said on his deathbed "We are all going to heaven, and Van Dyck is of the Company."