Ever since the nineteenth century, 11th February 1618 has been widely accepted as the date on which Anthony van Dyck enrolled as a free master and became a painter in his own right. However, an examination of the register of the Guild of St Luke in Antwerp, alongside the manuscript accounts book kept by the printer Jan Moretus II, who was Dean of the Guild in the guild year 1616–17, leads to the conclusion that Van Dyck became a free master four months earlier, on St Luke’s Day, 18th October 1617.
By Justin Davies. Published in The Burlington Magazine (www.burlington.org.uk) in February 2023.
Read it online or download the article (PDF file).
How to cite: Davies, Justin; “A new date for Anthony van Dyck’s free mastership” in The Burlington Magazine, vol. 165, no. 1439 (February 2023), pp. 162-165.
