Portrait of a Flemish Lady

Anthony van Dyck painted this portrait of an upper-class Antwerp woman around 1618, shortly after he registered as a master painter with the Antwerp Saint Luke's Guild. At that time, Antwerp's long-established portrait tradition emphasized a sitter's virtuous character through restrained gestures and a direct gaze. Thus, while Van Dyck's portrait style would ultimately come to be associated with gracefulness of pose and gentility of demeanor, his early portraits are somewhat stiff and formal.The woman in the Gallery's portrait looks directly out at the viewer with a firm but engaging expression. Although her left arm hangs by her side, her right arm is bent at the elbow to allow her hand to rest on her elegantly embroidered bodice. This gesture gives prominence to the gold band she wears on her forefinger, the traditional place to wear a wedding band in the 17th century. Although her identity is unknown, her millstone ruff, bracelets, and ring with a cut gem indicate that she is a woman of wealth and standing. Posed with her body turned to the right, the woman was once part of a pair, as portrait convention placed the woman at her husband's left, or sinister, side. Her husband's portrait is in the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.Van Dyck executed this painting on a coarsely woven canvas, giving his brushwork a broader and richer texture. He enhanced the expressive character of the paint in the woman's face and hand with rapidly applied accents that capture the light as it falls across her form. Indeed, despite working within the constrained portrait conventions of the time, Van Dyck was able to capture a sense of the woman's inner life, a quality that became the artist's hallmark.