On Saturday 25th January eighteen of our Prince’s Drawing Club students met at the National Portrait Gallery to draw from the last self-portrait of Sir Anthony Van Dyck. The painting is currently the subject of a campaign by the Art Fund and the National Portrait Gallery to secure it for the nation.
The students, aged 10–14 years old, were given an introduction to the portrait by a National Portrait Gallery visitor guide, who also showed them a self-portrait painted by Van Dyck when he was just ten years old. They were asked to think about what the artist was trying to tell us about himself through his choice of angle, clothing, colours, frame and moustache. They then got to work sketching the portrait in pencil.
The painting, dated 1640-1, presents an intimate image of an artist at work. He appears to be in the act of painting, his hand raised in…
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Jill Powell 