Portrait of Thomas Howard, 14th Earl of Arundel (1585-1646), full-length, in black, wearing the ribbon of the Garter

The Earl of Arundel was one of the foremost art collectors and patrons of his time; fundamental in forming the taste of the Stuart royal family, he also launched the careers of artists including Van Dyck and Rubens. A dedicated collector, Arundel travelled extensively to the Low Countries and Italy, and acquired paintings, drawings and sculpture of great renown.

Daniel Mytens was one of the artists to whom Arundel dedicated his patronage. Their relationship started with the artist’s first full-length commissions after he arrived in London around 1617; a pair of portraits of the Earl and his wife, Alethea Talbot, now in the National Portrait Gallery, and on display at Arundel Castle, with the long gallery of Arundel House included prominently behind them. Mytens went on to paint several portraits of the Earl, for whom the artist acted as a buying agent in Holland after his permanent return there in 1634. Oliver Millar called the present work ‘of good quality and a good head’, dating it to after 'circa 1625' (op. cit., p. 19), the year Mytens became court painter to Charles I. It relates most closely to a full-length at Welbeck Abbey, and a bust-length portrait at Boughton House.