Portrait of Antoine Triest, Bishop of Ghent (1576–1655)

This portrait of Antoine Triest, Bishop of Ghent from around 1650 depicts one of the leading churchmen of the Spanish Netherlands. Van Dyck's ecclesiastical portraits capture the dignity and spiritual authority of the Counter-Reformation Church's hierarchy. Van Dyck's portraits defined aristocratic self-presentation across Europe, his elongated elegance and atmospheric painting technique establishing a model for formal portraiture that dominated British art until the nineteenth century.

Van Dyck renders the bishop with restrained dignity, using the episcopal vestments and composed pose to convey ecclesiastical authority while the face is modeled with sensitive characterization.