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Possibly by Pieter Franchoijs, 'Portrait of Lucas Fayd'herbe (?)', about 1640-50

Key facts
Full title Portrait of Lucas Fayd'herbe (?)
Artist Possibly by Pieter Franchoijs
Artist dates 1606 - 1654
Date made about 1640-50
Medium and support oil on canvas
Dimensions 99.1 × 79.7 cm
Acquisition credit Wynn Ellis Bequest, 1876
Inventory number NG1012
Location Room 21
Collection Main Collection
Previous owners
Portrait of Lucas Fayd'herbe (?)
Possibly by Pieter Franchoijs
/

We can sense the confidence and energy of the man in this portrait. He is positioned slightly higher than the viewer, so we have to look up at him; he returns our gaze with a direct, rather aloof look in his eyes. His pose seems to reflect his vitality and a sense of self-belief: there is a sureness and dynamism in the casual lean of his body, the turn of his head and the strong angles of his arms, bent at the elbows.

He has been identified as Lucas Fayd'herbe (1617–1697), a successful sculptor and architect who lived and worked in Mechelen and was probably one of Rubens’s last pupils. There is no signature on the picture, so we can’t be sure who made it, but the strongest candidate is Pieter Franchoijs, a portrait and figure painter who was a cousin of Fayd’herbe. He had also been a pupil of Rubens and he too lived and worked in Mechelen.

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