Inigo Jones (recto); Sketch of Female Head (verso)

Anthony van Dyck's portrait of "Inigo Jones" is a black chalk drawing with brush and pale brown wash on ivory wove paper, with a sketch of a female head on the verso. Inigo Jones (1573–1652) was the most important architect of the Stuart era, responsible for introducing Palladian architecture to England with buildings like the Banqueting House in Whitehall and the Queen's House in Greenwich. Van Dyck's portrait captures Jones in his later years, the architect who had served as Surveyor of the King's Works under James I and Charles I. The drawing is remarkable not only as a portrait but as a document of one of the most significant cultural relationships of the Caroline era—the collaboration between the leading painter and the leading architect of the English court. The black chalk and wash technique is perfectly suited to capturing Jones's intelligent, worldly features. The verso sketch of a female head, perhaps a study for a painting or a quick observation from life, adds further interest to this already rich sheet.

Van Dyck's portrait of Inigo Jones documents the intersection of architecture and painting at the Caroline court, two arts united in the service of royal magnificence and the vision of an English Renaissance.

This portrait of England's greatest Renaissance architect is a document of historical importance as well as artistic mastery, the chalk and wash technique capturing the intelligence and authority of the man who transformed English architecture.