Portrait of Erard de la Marck

Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen's Portrait of Erard de la Marck, dated 1529 and now at the Rijksmuseum, depicts one of the most powerful ecclesiastical figures in the early sixteenth-century Low Countries. Erard de la Marck was Prince-Bishop of Liège from 1505 to 1538 and a cardinal, a man of enormous political influence who navigated the complex politics of the Habsburg Empire, the French crown, and the papacy. Vermeyen was a Dutch portrait painter in service to Emperor Charles V, one of the most well-traveled and cosmopolitan artists of his generation who accompanied the emperor on the Tunis campaign and recorded it in designs for tapestries. His portrait of de la Marck demonstrates the capacity of Flemish-Dutch court portraiture to combine unflinching physiognomic realism with the display of an individual's ecclesiastical rank and worldly authority. The Rijksmuseum's holding makes this a key document of northern European court portraiture.

The portrait presents the cardinal in three-quarter view with his ecclesiastical vestments and insignia rendered with Flemish precision. De la Marck's aged sharp-featured face is depicted with the unsparing realism of the northern portrait tradition. Colour is rich and purposeful with the cardinal's red robes creating strong visual contrast. The neutral ground focuses all attention on the sitter's face and costume.