Knights of the Garter in procession. Etching and aquatint by R. Cooper, 1782, after A. van Dyck, 1639.

London (Edward Street Cavendish Square) : Published as the Act directs ... by Richard Cooper, July 7, 1782.

1 print : etching, with aquatint printed in sanguine ; impression from two plates: left platemark approximately 35.2 x 66.6 cm, right platemark 35.1 x 67.8 cm

... La procession des chevaliers du très noble ordre de la jarretière d'après le dessein original du chevalier Antoine Vandyck peint en clair obscur sur planche de cette grandeur dans le cabinet du comte de Northington. Monsieur Walpole dans ses Anecdotes sur la peinture fait mention de cette composition, et observe que Vandyck proposa au Roi Charles premier de peindre sur les murs de la chambre de festins à Whitehall l'histoire et la procession de l'ordre de la jarretière, en concurrence avec son maître Rubens qui en avait déjà peint le plafond; mais les guerres civiles qui survinrent empechèrent qu'on y pensa davantage et ce petit tableau dans lequel on distingue plusieurs portraits est la seule partie qui fut jamais faite de cette ouvrage que Vandyck desiroit si fort d'executer comme la dernière et la plus noble production de son pinceau. Ricardus Cooper delin.t et sculp.t MDCCLXXXII Engraved lettering in four lines on a trompe l'oeil ledge running along the bottom of the design (called "the basement" in one of the labels stuck on some impressions)

[State with aquatint and with lettering expanded from one line to four lines].

Description based on the right half of an impression (or the left plate of two plates)

Advertised in the Morning chronicle and London advertiser 12 April 1783 p. 2, as follows: "Vandike. To be published in a few days, by Richard Cooper, price one guinea. A print from the original design of Sir Andrew Vandike, painted in chiaro oscura, representing the procession of the knights of the most noble Order of the Garter, in the collection of the Right Hon. the Earl of Northington, which was intended to have been painted for the banquetting house at Whitehall, in the reign of that great patron of the fine arts, King Charles the First, of which particular mention is made by the Hon. Mr Horace Walpole, in his Anecdotes of painting. The size of the print is four feet six inches long by one foot four inches high, the same as the original, and to imitate it the more exactly, it will be partly done with aqua tinta. A few of the etchings are printed off at the same price for those collectors who may be desirous to have the work in both states; and also a few copies on English Imperial for colouring. The length of the print making it necessary to be engraved on two plates, the impressions may be had either separate for port folios, or joined for framing. A printed explanation of the piece, with a list of the knights and officers of the Order, who lived at that period, will be delivered with the prints, to give connoisseurs an opportunity of tracing out the portraits. Subscriptions continue to be taken in at R. Cooper's, no. 24, Edward Street Cavendish-Square, where the prints (finished) may be seen, and where may be had his views of Rome and other works."

Wellcome Collection 3065471i

After: an oil sketch on wood by Van Dyck, ca. 1638, for a tapestry which was was not executed. The sketch was retained by Charles I and sold for £5 in the sale of the Royal collections in 1650. Accepted in 2002 by the British government in lieu of tax from the estate of the 10th Duke of Rutland and allocated to the Ashmolean Museum Oxford (information from Ashmolean display label)