Wenceslaus Hollar (Artist) Anthony van Dyck (Related Artist)
Alethea, Countess of Arundel
Artwork Detail
This print was made after a double-portrait (the so-called ‘Madagascar Portrait’) of the Earl and Countess of Arundel painted by Anthony van Dyck in 1639. The title refers to the earl’s unrealised plan to colonise the African island of Madagascar. Hollar’s Latin inscription refers to Alethea as the ‘premier countess of England’. But Arundel’s wife had lived in exile in Amsterdam since 1641, estranged from her husband. Like many royalists, she spent her remaining years away from her homeland, dying in 1654.
- Title
- Alethea, Countess of Arundel
- Artist/creator
- Production date
- 1646
- Medium
- etching and engraving
- Dimensions
- 247 x 195 mm
- Inscription
- Illustrissima ... Domina .... Alathea Talbot, etcdd; Comitissa. Arundelliae Et Surriae, Etc; Et Primna Comitissa Angliae.. Ant. Van Dyck Pinxit. Whollar Fecit 1646 Antverpiae.. Verso; (pencil) The Duchess of Arundel (l.l.) p1354 (l.r.). Inscribed verso bottom left-bottom centre, pencil, 'The Duchess [sic] of Arundel'. Inscribed verso bottom right, pencil, 'P.1354' [Parthey 1354]..
- Credit line
- Mackelvie Trust Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, bequest of Dr Walter Auburn, 1982
- Accession no
- M1982/1/3/201
- Other ID
- 1354 Pennington Catalogue Raisonné
- Copyright
- No known copyright restrictions
- Department
- International Art
- Display status
- Not on display
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