Reiterbildnis des Francisco de Moncada

Van Dyck painted this in 1634, in Brussels, of a man at the height of his career. Francisco de Moncada, a Spanish nobleman and general, had just been made interim governor of the Spanish Netherlands, running the war against the Dutch on behalf of the king in Madrid. Van Dyck shows him in armour on a striding horse, baton in hand, the whole image built to project command. What the picture cannot show is how little time he had left: Moncada died the following year while on campaign with the army. Van Dyck painted a companion portrait of him seated at the same moment, now in Vienna. This mounted version later passed to a collection in Rome and was bought for the Louvre, where it hangs today.