97. Anthony van Dyck,
Portrait of Isabelle Brandt, 1620-1621.

Oil on canvas, 153 x 120 cm.

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C.

 

 

Occasionally, he painted pictures with religious content, mainly Holy Families in idyllic landscapes. But his main activity during his stay in Rome was portraiture. There he painted the portrait of Cardinal Bentivoglio (early seventeenth century), considered a restrained masterwork of deep characterization. Later he travelled to Bologna and Venice, but the main body of his work was accomplished in Genoa and Antwerp.

Van Dyck painted a large number of portraits in this period. He must have been extraordinarily quick in finding the exact characteristic of his subjects that he wished to bring out. As in Genoa, in Brussels and Antwerp he was quickly the most popular portraitist in the genteel world. High-society figures had themselves painted by Van Dyck after the example of the governor, the Archduchess Clara Eugenia, whom Van Dyck painted most often in her widow’s habit.