But in the long run neither Brussels nor Antwerp satisfied his ambition. Thus in 1632 he took up an invitation to the Court of King Charles I in London. During his lifetime the King quickly came to appreciate the art of Van Dyck and made him Court Painter, an extremely well paid position.
Although Van Dyck, in his last years, busied himself with plans for a great historical exhibition, he did not come to see it carried out. He was only active as portrait painter; this activity was of such a scale that he was able to keep up with the work only with the help of his pupils. Often enough he made a hasty sketch of the face and left the finishing to his pupils. In contrast to Hans Holbein the Elder, his great predecessor from the Gothic period, Van Dyck could not even take the time to sketch the hands of the model but had them painted according to hired models. For this reason the portraits painted in England were not up to the standard of those painted in Italy.
However, whatever Van Dyck painted himself in these times of mass production still carries the stamp of genius. Several pieces that stand out are the various portraits of the King, the Queen and their children, such as the Equestrian Portrait of Charles I (early seventeenth century), which shows the King in full armour, or the Portrait of Charles I at the Hunt (1635) and finally the triple portrait, Portrait of King Charles I (1635-1636).
The time remaining until his death on December 9, 1641 was spent in London apart from a short trip to Paris. His comparatively early death can probably be attributed to the great stresses and efforts he required of his body.
The transition from the sixteenth century to the seventeenth century was the work of Jan Bruegel the Elder. He was one of the sons of Pieter Bruegel the Elder; because of his sumptuous clothing he was called the ‘Velvet Bruegel’. Bruegel could afford this luxury because his enormous diligence earned him much money. He knew how to get into the good graces of high society, and earn the favour of its members.
Bruegel painted in all the known areas but always only as a painter of small pictures on oak wood and copper plates. He was most proud when his paintings withstood the test of the patron’s magnifying glass. He composed landscapes in the Italian style which were populated with biblical figures – Adam and Eve surrounded by animals was a favourite subject matter. But more often he pictured the hilly surroundings and river valleys of his Flemish home, which he mostly enlivened with fishermen, shepherds, riders, seamen, wagoners or woodcutters. The denser and livelier the bustle of these figures, the more he could shine with the virtuosity of his craft.