Sketch of one of the Magistrates of Brussels by Anthony van Dyck

Conservation treatment allowed this picture to be recognised as a preparatory sketch for one of van Dyck’s major compositions. Found in a small antique shop in Cheshire, the picture is now on display at Rubenshuis in Antwerp.

The painting was bought by Derbyshire priest, Father Jamie MacLeod, from an antiques shop in Cheshire for £400 in 1992. Father Jamie brought the picture to the Antiques Roadshow in 2013, where Fiona Bruce and Philip Mould identified it as a possible work by van Dyck. The portrait of a bearded man, with tousled hair and an imposing ruff collar, was missed by van Dyck scholars because it had been so heavily overpainted at some point since the 1630s. The picture was brought to Simon Gillespie Studio to remove layers of discoloured varnishes and overpaint, to reveal an expressive and animated preparatory study.

The sketch had been turned into a full portrait a significant amount of time after the death of van Dyck because it was considered to be more sellable as a completed work.

After completion of the conservation treatment, the picture was verified as authentic by Dr Christopher Brown, one of the world's leading authorities on van Dyck.

The portrait is a preparatory study for a life-size painting featuring seven Brussels aldermen (known as the Magistrates of Brussels) and depicts one of them, a Brussels magistrate. The group portrait was on display in the town hall in Brussels until destroyed during the French bombardment of Brussels in 1695. We know it from a sketch of the group portrait in grisaille (which is at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris) and from four preparatory studies of the aldermen’s heads: two of them are in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, the third is in a private collection, and the fourth is this picture. All four share an unusual technique for priming the canvas, of grey wash over a red ground, which helped to authenticate Father Jamie’s painting. The pose of the MacLeod portrait matches that of the rightmost individual in the grisaille sketch. There is a fifth portrait, in the Royal Collection, which may also come from this series.

In May 2014, it was announced that the work would be auctioned at Christie’s on 8 July. Ahead of the auction in London, Christie's specialist Freddie de Rougemont said: "The picture is of great importance as it provides a fascinating insight into Van Dyck's working method and also constitutes a significant surviving document for the artist's lost group portrait of The Magistrates of Brussels."

The picture failed to sell at auction, but was sold to a private collector. In 2015, the painting was given on loan to the Rubenshuis, and in 2016 it was exhibited at the Frick Collection in New York. As of September 2018, it remained a part of the Rubenshuis exhibition.

The story was picked up by The Times, as well as other news outlets.

If you’re interested in finding out about other works by Anthony van Dyck, you’re in luck! Read about this portrait of Henrietta Maria’s lady-in-waiting which was confirmed as being by van Dyck after treatment at Simon Gillespie Studio, and this preparatory sketch for The Betrayal of Christ.