Portrait of a Nobleman, possibly Adriaan van der Borcht

About this work

Anthony van Dyck (1599 - 1641). Portrait of Nicolaes van der Borcht, merchant of Antwerp, c. 1634/1635. The coat of arms on the red curtain tells us that this gentleman was a member of the Antwerp merchant family of Van der Borcht, probably Nicolaes, who died in 1658. Nicolaes is pointing to a sea battle to his left. It is a fight between Spanish and Southern-Netherlandish privateers. The city in the background is Dunkirk, which in the seventeenth century was a notorious pirates' nest. His proud gesture suggests that Van der Borcht was himself involved in the lucrative business of pirateering. Anthony van Dyck had an atelier which relieved him of a great deal of work, a fact to which this portrait testifies. Van Dyck painted Van der Borcht's head and hands himself, but left the rest of the work to his associates. Here the vague outlines of two extra feet are just visible beneath the topmost layer of paint, indicating that in an earlier state the legs of the subject were further apart. Acquired through exchange with the Mauritshuis, The Hague, 1825.