It is rare when a drawing, especially one by van Dyck, can be dated to the day--and almost to the hour. The artist prominently noted in the bottom right corner that he made this view of the English harbor town Rye from nature on 27 August 1633. He drew it from the northeast, and because the light reflections on the rooftops indicate that the sun was on the right--the west--it must have been afternoon. Van Dyck, who was working at the court of the English king Charles I at this time, likely made this exquisite drawing for his own pleasure, possibly after meeting or dropping off his brother in Rye, then one of the main ports of entry from continental Europe. -- Exhibition Label, from "Power and Grace: Drawings by Rubens, Van Dyck, and Jordaens"
Signed and dated, and inscribed at lower right, by the artist, in brown ink, "Rie del naturale li 27 d' Augto 1633 - Aovand[yck] ["o" in superscript]; above in Rymsdyk's hand, in brown ink, "Rymsdyk's Museum"; on Richardson mount, at upper left, in graphite, "188"; at center, in Rymsdyk's hand, in brown ink, "sir A. Van Dyck"; at lower right, "rye, a borough and cinque port / of Sussex"; at left in another hand, in brown ink, "Born at Antwerp 1599"; at right, "died in London 1641"; on verso of mount, in brown ink, "P.97 / TK. 13/ L.8/ G." (Richardson's pressmarks); above this, perhaps in another hand, "A1F".
Watermark: none.
Richardson, Jonathan, 1665-1745, former owner.
Rymsdyk, Jan van, active approximately 1770, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Tuinen, Ilona van. Power and Grace : Drawings by Rubens, Van Dyck, and Jordaens. New York : Morgan Library & Museum, 2018, no. 10 (repr.)
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, III, 178.
Stampfle, Felice, with the assistance of Ruth S. Kraemer and Jane Shoaf Turner. Netherlandish Drawings of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries and Flemish Drawings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries in the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1991, p. 124, no. 272, repr.
From Leonardo to Pollock: Master drawings from the Morgan Library. New York: Morgan Library, 2006, cat. no. 42, p. 92-93.
100 Master drawings from the Morgan Library & Museum. München : Hirmer, 2008, no. 54, repr. [Jennifer Tonkovich]