Portrait of Maria Louisa de Tassis (1611-1638), After Anthony van Dyck Signed lower left Oil on canvas, 129.5 x 93.7 cm Provenance: - Auction Christie's, Amsterdam, 21 September 1999, lot 11 - Private collection, the Netherlands Literature: - Larsen, 1988, (not mentioned), ad Vol. 2, no. 521 - Barnes et al., 2004, (not mentioned), ad III.136 Note: Registered at the RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History in The Hague under number 57010. The prototype of the present lot, dating 1629, is painted by Anthony van Dyck and is in the Sammlungen des Regierenden Fürsten von Liechtenstein (Castle Vaduz, inv. no.58). As pointed out by Hans Vlieghe in the exhibition catalogue Van Dyck - 1599-1641 (1999) it is likely that the prototype was commissioned by Antonio de Tassis at the time of his ordination, together with his own portrait, also now in the Sammlungen des Regierenden Fürsten von Liechtenstein, Castle Vaduz. The subjects’ family came from Bergamo, and developed the first postal system in Europe in the late fifteenth century. Maria came from the Antwerp branch of the family, which traditionally provided the imperial postmaster. The portrait shows her at the age of about nineteen. She wears a magnificent silk dress, fully in tune with contemporary French fashion in its emphasis on décolleté and hip. Carl Faust , also Karl Faust, was a German genre and portrait painter from the Düsseldorf School. In particular, he appeared as a copyist of old masters. He made replicas of works by Anthony van Dyck, Frans Hals, Hans Holbein the Younger, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Rembrandt van Rijn and Tizian. Please note: condition reports and additional photos are available upon request. For more information: info@aagauctioneers.com