Ambrogio Spinola

c. 1620

The Italian nobleman Ambrogio Spinola was one of the most successful military commanders in Spanish history. After leading his army to victory against Dutch rebels in the early seventeenth century, he was knighted. In this portrait, he is shown wearing the chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece over his armor. Several distinguished artists painted his likeness, Van Dyck, Peter Paul Rubens, and Diego Velázquez among them.

Medium	oil on canvas
Dimensions	26 3/4 x 22 1/8 in. (68 x 56.2 cm)
Object Number	1955.27
Acquisition	Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955
Status	Off View

Image Caption

Studio of Anthony van Dyck, Ambrogio Spinola, c. 1620, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, 1955.27

Select Bibliography

Grosvenor Gallery. Exhibition of the Works of Sir Anthony Van Dyck. Exhibition catalogue with notes by Frederic George Stephens. London: Printed by Henry Good & Son, 1887. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Four: First Two Rooms. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Twelve: Dutch and Flemish Masters. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1960. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1972. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984. Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992. Kann, Rodolphe. Catalogue of the Rodolphe Kann Collection. Volume 1. Paris: Charles Sedelmeyer Publications, 1907. Glück, Gustav. Van Dyck: des Meisters Gemälde. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1931. Larsen, Erik. L'opera completa di Van Dyck: presentazione e apparati critici e filologici di Erik Larsen. Milan: Rizzoli, 1980. Larsen, Erik. The Paintings of Anthony van Dyke. 2 vols. Freren: Luca Verlag, 1988. Tomory, P.A. European Paintings Before 1800 in Australian and New Zealand Public Collections. Sydney: The Beagle Press, 1989. Murdoch, Tessa. Boughton House: the English Versailles. London: Faber and Faber, 1992. Barron, Austen D. A Question of Authenticity: The Portrait of Ambrogio da Spinola in the Clark Art Institute. Course paper, Art History: Graduate Program in the History of Art, Williams College, Williamstown, MA, 1997. Barnes, Susan, Nora, de Poorter, Oliver, Millar, and Horst Vey. Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings. New Haven: Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, 2004. Diaz Padron, Matias. "Van Dyck: Un Nuevo Retrato de Ambrosio Spinola Identificado En España." Archivo Español de Arte 81, no. 322 (AbrilJunio 2008): 165196. Smith, John. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters. Volume 3. London: Smith and Son, 1831. Royal Academy of Arts. Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters, and by Deceased Masters of the British School. Exhibition catalogue. London: Printed by William Clowes, 1886.

Provenance

Reverend W.H. Wayne, London (by 1886 at latest); possibly Reverend D.H. Wayne, Broseley, England; Rudolphe Kann, Paris (by 1907); [Knoedler and Co., London]; Henry Reinhardt, New York (by 1912); Robert Sterling and Francine Clark (1912); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955.