Portrait of a Married Couple 

This portrait was painted by Anthony van Dyck, who died in 1641, and like all paintings, it begins with the materiality of pigment. But what’s really striking here is the extravagant use of textiles, from the heavy drape in the background to the lace cuffs and ruffs worn by the couple. These are not simply decorative details, but markers of enormous expense. Think of all the labor involved: flax grown and spun, cloth woven, bleached and dyed, lace painstakingly knotted or needle-worked, all before even reaching the wearer. Van Dyck’s painting is, in effect, a monument to the pre-industrial textile economy. These were global commodities, sought after as indicators of status. In this context, the dark clothes of the sitters would have been an indication of wealth, an expensive black dye achieved through arduous processes. Van Dyck is reminding us that these are not just portraits of people, but of a world made by skilled hands.