Filippo Francesco d’Este, Marchese di Lanzo with dog

In November 1634 Filippo Francesco (1621–1653) and Carlo Emmanuele (1622–1695), sons of Sigismondo d’Este, arrived in the Netherlands as part of the retinue of the newly appointed Spanish Governor, Cardinal Infant Ferdinand. Van Dyck portrayed the princes in Brussels during his third Antwerp period, 1634-35. Their courtly Spanish attire emphasises the princes’ Catholic upbringing and has helped to refute the earlier identification of those depicted with the children of the Protestant “Winter King” Frederick V of Pfalz.