(Antwerp 1575–1624 Brussels)
Portrait of a Lady from the Arenberg family, possibly Isabelle Claire de Berlaymont,
oil on canvas, 113 x 86 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European collection

Literature:
La Dama Genovese con l’orecchino di perle. I Serra e le rotte del collezionismo tra Fiandre, Italia e Spagna, ed. by A. Orlando, Genova 2020, pp. 29-35, fig. 37, illustrated p. 34

This portrait represents a young member of the Arenberg family, possibly the bride of one of the members of that family. The family’s coat-of-arms, three gold five-petal rosettes on a red ground, is clearly displayed. The noble young lady’s hairstyle is typical of the early years of the seventeenth century and is in the fashion first worn by archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia, and seen in her many portraits.

The Arenberg family were one of the most influential of the southern Low Countries and were celebrated patrons of the Fleming Van Deynen. Following a period spent in Genoa where the painter worked for the city’s nobility including the Doria and Brignole families, in 1614 he was called to Brussels to work for the court of Albert and Isabella. Here he also made many works for other patrons in the city, among them the Arenberg family, and in particular for Charles d’Arenberg and his wife Anne de Croy, for whom there are documented works from 1614 and 1617. One of their daughters, Claire d’Arenberg (1594-1670) who was first married in 1609 to Bertin Spinola, has been proposed as the sitter of the present portrait. However, it is more likely that the sitter is one of the first two wives of her brother, Philippe Charles Prince d’Arenberg and Duke of Aarschot (1587-1640), a noted collector of Flemish paintings. Indeed, the lady represented could be Hyppolite-Anne de Melun (1590-1615) or, considering her age, Isabelle Claire de Berlaymont (1602-1630).