Portret van de schilder Adam van Noort 1627 - 1635

This is Anthony van Dyck's portrait of the painter Adam van Noort, made with graphite on paper. The inherent qualities of graphite, its softness and ability to create varying tones through pressure, greatly influence the appearance of the work. Van Dyck coaxes a range of tones from the graphite, using smudging to create soft shadows and more defined, sharper lines to outline features. The layered strokes and the visible texture of the paper add a tactile dimension to the drawing, almost like the weave of a canvas. Drawing like this, the quick study of a fellow artist, represents a certain social milieu, but also a form of labor: the artist's skilled hand, trained through years of practice, capturing the likeness of a colleague. The relative immediacy of drawing allowed Van Dyck to capture a sense of life and presence efficiently, which may have taken much longer using paint. The nature of the material, the process of drawing, and the social context are all keys to understanding the artwork more fully.