Virgin and Child, with Alexander Goubau, (1540-1614): Grand Aumonier of Antwerpen

This began as an act of mourning. Anne Antheunis, a wealthy Antwerp widow, commissioned it in memory of her late husband, Alexander Goubau, who had held the honorary post of grand almoner of the city. It was meant for the couple's funeral monument in Antwerp's cathedral, an ex-voto to hang above their tomb. She turned to Rubens around 1618. He had come home from eight years in Italy a decade earlier, full of Titian, Veronese and the art of antiquity, and was by now the most sought-after painter in the Low Countries. Around the Virgin and Child he set portraits of the pair, Goubau painted from memory after his death and his wife drawn from life. The picture was finished by 1621, the year Anne herself died.