Kehinde Wiley: ‘Equestrian Portrait of Prince Tommaso of Savoy-Carignan’

Kehinde Wiley is one of the most celebrated artists working today. Timken is proud to share his dazzling painting Equestrian Portrait of Prince Tommaso of Savoy-Carignan (2018) for the first time with the public in San Diego. Wiley employs “street-casting” to identify youthful, contemporary models for his large-scale works, posing them in the manner of famous “Grand Manner” European portraits. In the case of Wiley’s recent image from his Rumours of War series, both horse and model replicate Anthony van Dyck’s Baroque portrait of Prince Tommaso Francesco of Savoy-Carignan (1634), which is today at the Galleria Saubada, Turin. While on loan to the Timken from a prominent New York collection, The painting will hang in the Dutch-Flemish Gallery, next to van Dyck’s portrait of Mary Villers, Lady Herbert of Shurland which was painted about the same time as the work that served as Wiley’s model.