Lot 29 Dα

The present work is a smaller and slightly amended copy of van Dyck's late work, painted in around 1634/35, which measures 315 x 236 cm and is now housed in the Galleria Sabauda in Turin. Other versions of this equestrian portrait, including some large-format works, are also known to exist, for example in Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire. The author of this work changed some elements of the landscape background and also decided to dispense with the monumental columns and the green curtain in the right side of the image, which were presumably felt to be less suitable for a small-format work.
Thomas Franz von Savoy-Carignan was the younger brother of Duke Victor Amadeus I of Savoy. He received the Princedom of Carignan from his father as an appanage in 1625 and thus became the founder of the Savoy-Carignan branch. In the same year he married the French Princess Marie de Bourbon-Condé in Paris. Thomas Franz pursued a career in the military, at first fighting on the Spanish side and then later for the French.