Portrait of Filippo Francesco d'Este, Marchese di Lanzo with his Dog

This portrait of Filippo Francesco d'Este with his dog from 1631 dates from Van Dyck's Italian period when he worked for the aristocratic families of Genoa, Rome, and northern Italy. The inclusion of a large dog emphasizes the sitter's noble status and sporting interests. 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 nobleman and his dog with characteristic elegance, using the animal to create a dynamic compositional diagonal while the figure's pose conveys aristocratic self-assurance.