Self-Portrait with a Sunflower

Anthony van Dyck looks back over a gleaming pink shoulder, holding up a gold chain and pointing towards an enormous sunflower. The gestures seem to promise an explanation, yet his eyes meet ours while the flower turns across the picture beside him. In Self-Portrait with a Sunflower , looking becomes an activity shared between the painted artist and the person standing before him.

A face turned towards us

The Royal Academy exhibited the painting as a work of about 1633. The Metropolitan Museum of Art also uses that approximate date when identifying the painting behind Hollar's later print. The National Trust's entry for a copy gives the original a date of 1635–36. The precise year remains open. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

The pose gives the impression of a movement briefly arrested. His body faces towards the right, but his head turns back far enough for both eyes to engage the viewer. We see a broad sweep of shoulder and sleeve before reaching his face. The turn therefore carries us around the body: the portrait makes its own approach to the sitter feel indirect, although the meeting of eyes is immediate.

Dark curls merge with the shadow behind his head. Against them, the lit forehead, cheek and long nose become particularly distinct. His moustache curls upwards above a small pointed beard; the mouth remains closed. The expression is alert, but its emotional meaning stays elusive. His self-presentation is easier to follow through what he chooses to show us and how deliberately he arranges our attention.

The sunflower offers a second large, rounded form across from the head. Its dark centre is ringed by irregular yellow petals, some thrusting outwards and others folding across one another. Broad leaves form heavy shapes along the right edge. Between the two hands sits a smaller bloom, seen much more obliquely. This second flower helps the plant occupy space: the great flower head belongs to a growing stem with different directions and stages of visibility.

Clouds brighten the interval between face and flower. They give the turning head a clear outline and leave room for the gold chain and the raised hands to be read. The dark background behind the artist and the open sky beside the plant divide the composition into unequal areas. His gaze crosses that division towards us, while his finger draws our attention back into the painting.

What the hands and clothes show

The hand near the centre holds a loop of chain clear of the red clothing. Its links run across the shoulder, where small gold highlights pick out a curved line against the fabric. Lifting the chain makes us notice it as something being presented.

The other hand rises beside the sunflower. Its extended finger approaches the lower petals; the remaining fingers bend towards the palm. A bright white cuff marks the wrist, bringing a concentrated patch of light to the lower right. The two hands have different jobs within the composition. One gathers and holds; the other extends and indicates. Together they connect the artist's body, the piece of jewellery and the plant.

Van Dyck became court painter in 1632 and received a knighthood. ^[1] The National Trust identifies the displayed chain as Charles I's gift. ^[3] This places the gesture within his relationship with the English court, explored further in Van Dyck's years in England .

The clothing makes that public identity tangible. Pink and crimson fold into deep brown shadow, then open into broad pale streaks where the surface catches the light. The sleeve seems full and substantial; the white cuff is comparatively crisp. Small highlights in the chain sit against these much larger movements of fabric. Different kinds of splendour are brought together: the precious object is described through many little points, while the richness of the clothing comes through sweeping changes of colour and tone.

No palette, brush or easel appears in this view. His hands are occupied with the things he wants us to inspect. That choice lets the portrait propose a social identity through dress and gesture, while the painted fabric itself offers a demonstration of the artist's skill. We can enjoy the shifting reds before attaching any symbolic meaning to the flower.

What does the sunflower mean?

The National Trust describes the traditional royal reading: Van Dyck identifies himself with the sunflower, expressing devotion to the king. ^[3] The Royal Academy allows both the artist-courtier following his monarch as the flower follows the sun, and an alternative metaphor concerned with painting and looking. ^[1] These possibilities deserve to remain open.

The first reading draws force from the chain. Set beside a royal gift, the pointing gesture can make the plant seem part of a declaration of allegiance. Yet the king himself is absent from the composition. We have to supply the connection between a natural form and a political relationship. The flower offers a suggestive image rather than a written statement.

We can explore the alternative by attending to the direction of eyes, head and hands. Van Dyck points towards a visible object while looking out at someone beyond the picture. As viewers, we follow the gesture and then return to his face. That movement becomes part of our experience, whether or not we settle the symbolism.

The scale of the flower also matters. Almost a companion to the head, it commands space and attention of its own. Its layered petals and dense centre reward close inspection just as the curls, flesh and lustrous fabric do. Van Dyck gives the viewer enough to see that a verbal explanation never quite exhausts the encounter.

Copies, a print and a later echo

The composition travelled beyond the original canvas. In 1644, Wenceslaus Hollar made an etching after Van Dyck's self-portrait. The Metropolitan Museum's impression, Sir Anthony Van Dyck with a Sunflower , is the third state of three and names John Evelyn as dedicatee. ^[2] It belongs to the image's life in reproductive printmaking , with Hollar responsible for the etched translation.

Ham House has a painted copy attributed to an artist after Van Dyck and dated about 1675–77. It was recorded in the house's 1677 catalogue. ^[3] The copy shows that this distinctive arrangement continued to be collected decades after Van Dyck's death. Its date and collection history belong to that later object; the private painting discussed here has its own identity.

The sunflower also reappears above Van Dyck's later oval self-portrait in the National Portrait Gallery. There it is carved into the frame. The Gallery suggests that the motif became a kind of personal emblem, or impresa , for the artist. ^[4] Moving from the depicted plant to a carved ornament, the flower could evoke Van Dyck even outside the painted scene. That later association extends the motif's interest without resolving the earlier painting's meaning.