Earlier this week I had the opportunity to see a Van Dyke exhibition in the Palazzo Ducale. Unlike many places in Italy and Europe in general, here if you ask for a senior discount they don’t look at you funny, they just nod yes and apply the discount—that’s nice.

Anyway, back to Van Dyke. He clearly was a child prodigy and genius and was accepted into the painter’s guild in Antwerp at the age of 14 and became a master at the age of 17, when the self portrait above was painted.

In his early 20’s, already successful, he came to Italy and then settled in Genova for several years. Genova offered him a large audience for his skills as there were lots of families who were willing to pay him handsomely for a portrait of one or more members of their clan. Below is a portrait he did of one of the leading members of the Spinola family, whose family palazzo I mentioned in an earlier post. Spinola worked for the Spanish royal government, even though he was Genovese.

My fellow lodger Patrick, who returned to Hamburg on Saturday, declined to go to the exhibit with me—he said that when you compare Van Dyke to Caravaggio, there’s really no contest. He’s probably right—but Van Dyke was far more financially successful in his life, even if he was also a rake and womanizer.

Very soon after leaving Genova, he traveled to England and was given the post of official court painter for the Stewart kings, James I and Charles I. One of the most interesting. pictures in the exhibit was a dual portrait of Charles and his queen Henrietta Maria. Henrietta Maria, the daughter of the king of France, remained a Catholic all her life, and many historians say she influenced Charles with her religious beliefs. Of course, things didn’t end well for Charles, who lost his head to Oliver Cromwell’s forces in 1649 during the English Revolution.

Van Dyke did paint pictures other than portraits, but the portraits, clearly his meilleur, provided his bread and butter and supported his successful lifestyle.

Finally, the two photos below are of my landlady and hostess, Adriana Toce, for my stay in Genova, and my fellow lodger, Patrick Mueller, from Hamburg, Germany. As I mentioned, Patrick went home yesterday, to La Signora’s chagrin as his Italian was much better than mine, so now her conversations are much more limited with me—but we do manage to communicate.

The last photo shows me with a better view of the kitchen where Adriana serves us breakfast daily, usually latte with toast, but sometimes she makes an omelet or scrambled eggs.

That’s all for now…thanks for reading my “ramblings.”