Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641)
Queen Henrietta Maria with Jeffery Hudson, 1633
Black chalk, red and yellow (fabricated?) chalks, heightened with white chalk, on blue paper
16 1/2 × 10 1/8 in. (41.9 × 25.5 cm)
École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris
In preparing his portrait of Henrietta Maria, Van Dyck drew this study of her costume. The absence of any close study of the queen’s facial features suggests the drawing may have been made from a hired model wearing a garment lent to the studio. The use of colored chalks to record certain details of the queen’s dress is almost unique in Van Dyck’s drawn oeuvre. Entirely focused on the fall of fabric and the brilliant highlights in the riding clothes, the drawing gives only the most summary indication of the queen’s surroundings or her attendant.