Isabella Brandt
by DYCK, Sir Anthony van, Oil on canvas, 153 x 120 cm
The subject is the first wife of Rubens to whom the painting was attributed formerly. The ornamental gateway which Rubens built in his garden in Antwerp forms the architectural background. Van Dyck presented the painting to Rubens as a gift before he left for Italy in 1621. The sitter is about thirty, she died five years later, in 1626, probably of the plague.