DYCK, Sir Anthony van
(b. 1599, Antwerpen, d. 1641, London)

Portrait of Peeter Stevens

1627
Oil on canvas, 113 x 99 cm
Mauritshuis, The Hague

Peeter Stevens (c. 1590-1668) was an Antwerp cloth merchant. In 1627, he had his portrait painted by Anthony van Dyck. When Stevens got married a year later, he commissioned Van Dyck to paint his wife Anna as well. Anna was placed on the left, so that Stevens did not have his back turned to her. But actually convention dictated that the man should hang on the left and the woman on the right.