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| Artist | Dyck, Anthony van (Flemish painter, 1599-1641, active in England) |
| Title | The Betrayal of Christ |
| Date earliest | about 1620 |
| Date latest | about 1620 |
| Material | oil on canvas |
| Measurements | 274 x 222 cm |
| Description | The Betrayal is one of Van Dyck's most important early religious compositions, and reveals the young artist's expressive power and virtuosity, and the influence of Rubens and Italian painting on his work. The Betrayal takes place at night and is illuminated by torchlight. Judas Iscariot, the apostle who has betrayed Christ to the priests for thirty pieces of silver, approaches him accompanied by an aggressive mob. Van Dyck has emphasised the contrast between the calm, still figure of Christ and the frenzied crowd. The gnarled tree-trunk set below Judas reminds us that he has forfeited his soul. |
| Subject | religion (Christ, Judas, Gethsemane, New Testament) |
| Collection | Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery |
| Current accession number | K5177 |
| Acquisition details | Given by H. M. Government 1984. |
| Provenance | Possibly Alexander Voet, Antwerp, by 1687; purchased from George Bagnall by Sir Paul Methuen, Grosvenor Square, London, 1747-57; by bequest or descent to Paul Methuen, Corsham Court, Wiltshire, 1757-95; by descent to Paul Cobb Methuen, 1795-1816; by descent to the fourth Lord Methuen, -1974; given by the executors of the fourth Lord Methuen to H. M. Government in lieu of tax. |
| Principal exhibitions | British Institution, London, 1857, cat. no. 12; Royal Academy, London, 1877, cat. no. 109; Royal Academy, London, 1887, cat. no. 125; Antwerp, 1899, cat. no. 9; London, 1900, cat. no. 30; The Treasure Houses of Britain: 500 Years of Private Patronage and Art Collecting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985-86, cat. 264; Anthony van Dyck, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1990-91, cat. 14. |
| Principal publications | Britton, J., The Beauties of Wiltshire, Displayed in Statistical Historical and Descriptive Sketches: Interspersed with Anecdotes of the Arts, London, 1801, p. 289; Britton, J., An Historical Account of Corsham House, London, 1806, p. 289; Smith, J. Catalogue Raisonné of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters, London, 1829-42, III, p. 5, no. 16; Waagen, G. F., Works of Art and Artists in England, 1838, III, pp. 102-3; Waagen, G. F., Treasures of Art in Great Britain: Being and Account of Paintings, Drawings, Sculptures, Illuminated MSS., &, &, London, 1857, p. 395; Giuffrey, J., Antoine van Dyck: Sa vie et son oeuvre, Paris, 1882, p. 31, p. 247, no. 92B; Cust, L., Anthony Van Dyck. An Historical Study of his Life and Works, London, 1900, pp. 30-31, p. 247 no. 119; Bode W. von., 'Anton van Dyck als Mitarbeiter des Peter P. Rubens', ,Rembrandt und seine Zeitgenossen, Leipzig, 1906, p. 260; Schaeffer, E., Van Dyck. Des Meisters Gemälde, Stuttgart & Leipzig, 1909, p. 38; Rosenbaum, H., Der junge Van Dyck (1615-21), PhD dissertation, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität, Munich, 1928, p. 66; Glück, G.,Van Dyck des Meisters Gemälde, Stuttgart and Berlin, 1931, pp. xxxii, 70, 527; Delacre, M.,Le Dessin dans l’oeuvre de Van Dyck, Brussels, 1934, p. 83; Borenius, T., A Catalogue of Pictures at Corsham Court, London, 1939, pp. 68-69, no. 119; Vey, H., Van Dyck-Studien, dissertation, Cologne, 1958, pp. 201-04; Antoon van Dyck; Tekeningen en olieverfschetsen, Antwerp & Rotterdam, 1960, pp. 79-82; Martin, J. R. and G. Feigenbaum, Van Dyck as a Religious Artist, Princeton, 1979, p. 102; Brown, C., Van Dyck, Oxford, 1982, p. 39; Jackson-Stops, G., (ed.), The Treasure Houses of Britain: Five Hundred Years of Private Patronage and Art Collecting, Washington & New Haven, 1985, cat. no. 264; A Catalogue of Pictures at Corsham Court, Corsham, 1986, p. viii; Larsen, E., The Paintings of Anthony van Dyck, Freren, 1988, no. 258; Brown, C., 'Anthony van Dyck at Work: the Taking of Christ and Samson and Delilah', Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch, 1994, pp. 43-49; Wheelock Jr., A. K., Anthony van Dyck, Washington, 1990, cat. no. 14; Brown, C., H. Vlieghe et al, Van Dyck 1599-1641, London and Antwerp, 1999, cat. no. 24, pp. 144-46, ill.; Barnes, S. et al., Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven and London, 2004, cat. no. 1.17, pp. 33-34, ill. |
| Notes | Nothing is known about the original commissioning of the Betrayal. It was possibly made as an altarpiece. Poorter (in Barnes et al. 2004) proposed that it was one of a series made for an unknown religious setting, of which three canvasses were at the Cistercian Abbey of Ter Duinen, Bruges, by 1660 (but could not have been commissioned by that foundation). The associated works are The Descent of the Holy Spirit (Bildergalerie, Schloss Sanssouci, Potsdam), Christ Crowned with Thorns and Saint John the Evangelist and Saint John the Baptist (both destroyed, formerly Kaiser Friedrich-Museum, Berlin). Two of these and a Betrayal, perhaps the present work, appeared in the inventory of Anthonette Wiael (d. 1627), widow of Antwerp art dealer Jan van Hecht. It can be said with more confidence that K5177 is identifiable with a painting in the collection of the engraver Alexander Voet II of Antwerp by 1687. The receipt for the acquisition by Sir Paul Methuen from George Bagnall dated 22 May 1747, exists at Corsham Court, Wiltshire. The painting has been at Corsham Court since about 1761, when Paul Methuen (1723-1795), who acquired the property in 1745, moved his paintings there from Grosvenor Square, London. Two further autograph versions of the Betrayal are at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (inv. 57.45) and the Prado. Scholars disagree over the chronology of the three autograph versions which differ in both size and detail. There are numerous studies, drawings and oil studies, related to the composition. |
| Rights status | Bristol's Museums, Galleries & Archives |
| Author | Dr Susan Steer |
