Portrait of Jean-Charles de la Faille

In 1629 Jean-Charles della Faille was 32 and about to leave Antwerp for Madrid, where his order had appointed him to teach mathematics at the Jesuit Imperial College and where Philip IV would consult him about fortifications. He never came back. His family asked van Dyck for a portrait before he went, and van Dyck gave this sitter something he rarely gave anyone, the tools of a working life. A globe stands on the table, a large brass instrument leans against it, and under his right hand lie a sheet of paper and a pair of dividers. Three years after he sat for this, della Faille was the first to work out the centre of gravity of a sector of a circle. He died in Barcelona in 1652, still in Spain.