Portrait of Hendrik van Thulden

Hendrik van Thulden was an Antwerp theologian in his mid-thirties when Rubens painted him, around 1615 or 1616. In 1610 he had been admitted to the chapter of Antwerp cathedral, the body of canons who ran it, and soon afterwards he was put in charge of St George's church in the city, where he would also be buried. He did not have long. Van Thulden died in 1617, still in his thirties, so this panel shows him very near the end of his life, though nothing in it hints at that. Rubens set the face against the black of the gown and a brownish ground, so that it comes forward on its own, and the museum reads intelligence and a quick mind in the features. The detail that brings the picture to life is the hand on the book. His fingers are still tucked between the pages, as if he had looked up from reading only for a moment.