Sir Anthony Van Dyk

This statuette and its companion (V&A mus. no. A.24-1955) both form a pair. These statuettes were identified by Margaret Whinney as those formerly in the Hospital of St. John and St. Elizabeth, Grove End Road, London.

On acquisition this statuette and its companion figure were thought to be by Rysbrack. They are now to be known as cast after a model by Rysbrack of about 1743. This present piece is possibly cast by L. Genneau in ca. 1850.

In the late 1740s Rysbrack produced models of some earlier Flemish artists, including the the present Van Dyck, Rubens and Duquesnoy. These seem to have been reproduced in plaster and lead during Rysbrack's lifetime. This bronze version however almost certainly dates from the 19th century.

Rysbrack (1694-1770) was born in Antwerp, and trained in the Netherlands, but spent his working life in Britain. He was one of the most important sculptors active in this country in the first half of the 18th century, and specialised in portrait busts and funerary monuments. Although he never visited Italy, many of his works are clearly indebted to classical archetypes. His terracotta models are particularly fine, and are often virtually finished pieces in their own right.