Портрет скульптора Франсуа Дюкенуа

Two young Flemings, far from home in Italy. When Van Dyck painted this in the 1620s he was in his twenties and making his name as a portraitist across Italy, while his sitter, the Brussels-born sculptor Francois Duquesnoy, was carving his way to fame in Rome. Duquesnoy would become known for tender marble children and for a colossal Saint Andrew set beneath the dome of Saint Peter's. Here he is before any of that, turned in a dark coat with a white collar, one hand loose, the eyes thoughtful and a little tired. Van Dyck keeps the background bare so nothing competes with the face. On the sitter's fine, expressive hands you can already read a sculptor's trade.