Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641)
Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, Seated, ca. 1635–36
Black chalk, heightened with white chalk, on gray-brown paper
19 × 13 7/8 in. (48.4 × 35.3 cm)
The British Museum, London
A leading aristocrat and art patron in Caroline England, Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, was portrayed several times by Van Dyck, as well as by Peter Paul Rubens. Representing his formidable presence with exceptional immediacy, this drawing does not correspond directly to any of Van Dyck’s portraits of the "Collector Earl" but was undoubtedly made from life with a larger composition in mind. The drawing may be a rejected idea for a lost painting that showed a seated Arundel with his wife, Aletheia Talbot, and their family.