The Head of an Old Man

A grey-bearded old man turns his head to the left against a plain black ground. The picture is workshop equipment, a head painted from life and kept so that the face could later be given to a figure in some large religious or mythological canvas, which is how studios worked in the 17th century. The Prado has a second head of the same model, painted on paper and afterwards laid down on a panel. The dry, rough handling of the flesh belongs to Van Dyck's early years, around 1618 to 1620, and the study has more than once been given to Rubens instead. It did belong to Rubens. It was still in his house when he died in 1640, and it was bought out of the sale of his estate for Philip IV. That is how a study 47 centimetres high came into a royal collection.