On-line gallery
- Reference number
- P01545
- Author
- Dyck, Anton van (Flemish)
- Title
- The Christ Child and Saint John
- Chronology
- 1618-1620
- Technique
- Support
- Measures
- 131 cm x 75,5 cm
- School
- Theme
- Shown
- No
- Entrance
- COLECCION REAL
- Procedence
- Royal Collection
Saint John is depicted with his
customary symbols, a cross with a
ribbon bearing the motto “Lamb of
God.” Indeed, there is a lamb
beside him, which the Christ Child
tenderly pets. The fountain on the
right is a double allusion to the
Baptism of Christ and to his
condition as the “fountain of
life.”
The close human and everyday vision
of the two boys belongs to a
tradition posterior to the Catholic
Church's Counterreformation, which
this sort of votive scenes became
popular among the faithful, and
also among collectors of
paintings.
Van Dyck uses a composition that
was quite customary in his double
portraits, combining the frontal
placement of one character with a
scorzo profile of the other. This
gave the works a greater formal
dynamism.
This painting was consecutively
attributed to Jordaens, Rubens and
Van Dyck, and is probably the work
that entered the Royal Collection
in 1691 by way of the collection of
the Marquis of El Carpio.
