D I L L Y B U N D Y
D I L L Y B U N D Y : P A I N T E R : P R I N T M A K E R
John Peacock, art historian and author, had serious doubts that a single portrait
could provide sufficient information to sustain a 20,000 word MA dissertation. But
Alatheia, Countess of Arundel, and her Entourage (1620) by Peter Paul Rubens is a
remarkable portrait and the artist's research gained her an MA with Distinction from
Southampton University, England.
Alatheia Talbot was the wife of Thomas, Earl of Arundel, a very influential and cultured
Jacobean nobleman. Alatheia was also a leading female at Court in London and a close
friend of Queen Anne of Denmark, wife of James 1.
By 1620, and not yet 30, Alatheia had provided Thomas with six healthy children.
So what prompted her to leave England without her husband, journey with a considerable
entourage across Europe and settle on the Grand Canal in Venice for 2 scandalous
years?
And why did Rubens, the most famous portrait painter in Europe, agree to paint Alatheia’s
portrait, when he had refused requests from royalty? Who is the man depicted in the
shadows? (See portrait detail.) Is he a relative? A friend? A servant? A lover?
A L A T H E I A , L A D Y A R U N D E L
