A woman wearing a voluminous black dress with a wide, ruffled collar sits holding the hand of a young boy, who stands next to her, in this vertical portrait painting. The woman sits with her body in profile facing our left, and she looks in that direction. The boy stands at her feet, behind her legs to our left, looking out at us. Both have pale, peachy skin with rosy cheeks, dark blond hair, and brown eyes. The woman’s hair is pulled back and covered with pearls, and a few short tendrils curl around her face. Her long black dress has puffed, black-on-black brocade sleeves, and the skirt is cut with short, decorative slits. The skirt has a sheen where the light falls, suggesting it is silk. Her wide, stiff, ruffled collar is pleated into a figure-eight pattern around her neck, and a thick gold chain loops over one shoulder to the opposite hip.
   The sleeves have wide, ruffled cuffs, and she wears a gold ring with a slate-blue gemstone on the pinky finger of her right hand, closer to us. The boy’s small fingers wrap around the woman’s right hand, farther from us. His body faces us, and his other hand rests on his hip. His straight hair falls across his forehead and to his ears. His suit has a crimson-red, leafy pattern against gray satin, and the sleeves are also nickel gray. A wide, lace-trimmed collar rests along his shoulders. A brown and white dog frolics behind the boy, looking up at him with mouth open and tongue hanging out.
   The woman’s chair is framed by two stone columns streaked with rust red and taupe, and they extend off the top edge of the composition. A balustrade runs behind the boy along an opening beyond. The top corner of an entablature or lintel supported by columns is visible against a steel-gray, cloudy sky. A red drape flutters above the pair, along the top edge of the canvas, and the red and brown woven carpet below kicks up at the base of the column closer to us.

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   In this stunning portrait of a mother and child, Van Dyck fuses patrician grandeur and human warmth. The woman, dressed in a formal black dress, beautifully set off by a graceful lace ruff, sits rigidly erect in high-backed chair. Adorned with an array of jewels that convey her aristocratic refinement—a gold medallion hanging from a chain across her chest, a broad band of pearls encircling her coiffed hair—she stares straight ahead in strict profile with a detached air while also holding her young son's hand, a tender gesture that belies her aloof demeanor. For his part, the boy, dressed in a splendid red brocade doublet and breeches, also seems to possess a maturity and solemnity beyond his years. However, the manner in which he clasps his mother's hand reveals the sense of assurance he receives from her touch. As the rambunctious dog springing at his feet suggests, he is, despite his proud bearing, only a boy.

   Despite Van Dyck's remarkable ability to capture his sitter' personalities in this portrait, the precise identity of this mother and child is not known. The earliest reference to the painting dates from and 1801 description of the Earl of Warwick's collection, where it is listed as "Lady Brooke," presumably through a mistaken notion that the female sitter was one of the earl's ancestors. By 1809, however, the Warwick Castle inventory had recast the title as "A whole length Portrait of a Lady and her Page." Eventually it was realized that the painting was from Van Dyck's Italian period rather than his English one—the costumes, the nature of the architectural setting, and Van Dyck's broad summary painting technique clearly indicate this the portrait comes from the latter years of his Italian sojourn. It was also eventually recognized that the relationship between the two figures was that of mother and child.

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