Portrait of Anna van Thielen, wife of the painter Theodoor Rombouts with their daughter

When Anna van Thielen married the painter Theodoor Rombouts in 1627, the wedding took place outside Antwerp. Her family was noble and came from the Mechelen area, so Rombouts first had to ask the Antwerp city council for a dispensation to marry away from the city without losing his rights as a citizen. A few years later, around 1631 or 1632, van Dyck painted her with their daughter, Anna Maria. The mother holds herself with quiet reserve. The little girl presses close to her, half hiding, with the wariness very small children show towards strangers. The Alte Pinakothek singles this out as van Dyck's gift, unusual in his time, for catching the personality of a small child. Anna's brother, Jan Philips van Thielen, joined Rombouts's studio as a pupil in 1631, though he later turned to painting flowers.