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Recently, the ‘Topstukkenfonds' of the Flemish Community bought for the KMSKA a rare Studie van een oude man met baard in profiel naar links (Study of an old man with a beard with left-facing profile) painted by Anthony van Dyck (1599 - 1641). This head study has a special artistic value because it is a unique testament to the exceptional maturity of the young artist. Van Dyck was barely twenty years old when he painted this study in the studio of his teaching master, Peter Paul Rubens. Other artists are usually just completing their training process at the age of nineteen. Van Dyck exhibits himself as a self-confident artistic personality with keen powers of observation with this face study. This is expressed in the quick strokes and perfectly placed points of light that define the anatomy of the skull, the cheekbones, the nostrils and the ear. Like none other, he knows how to render the tanned skin of the old man with nuanced mixed tones of brown, grey, ochre and pink. This face is a masterwork on a small scale.
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