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PETER PAUL RUBENS (1577-1640) PORTRAIT OF AMBROSE DE SINOLA Canvas, 30 3/8 inches by 39 5/8 THREE-QUARTER length, half-turned to the spectator; in quasi-military costume, and carrying the chain of the Spanish order of the Golden Fleece. From the Collection of Count de Renesse, Castle Mayen, on the Rhine.

Dr. Bode, in a letter concerning this portrait, written March 29, 1911, from the Koeniglich Museen, Berlin, says.'

"The portrait by P. P. Rubens you showed me does not represent the Emperor Rodolphe II, as many engravings and medals of the Emperor prove. Besides, he died some years before Rubens painted the picture, as costume and treatment appoint in to the year 1614 or 1615. The order of the Golden Fleece, however, proves that the man represented had a high position in his time, and that is why I hope to find out one day who it was. The picture is entirely painted by Rubens carefully executed by him and yet shows much spirit, especially in the treatment of the hands. It is very lifelike, for Rubens was unusually true to nature, and in conception simple and distinguished. As a life size figure, nearly to the knees, it is very rare 0bject on the market. The picture is in a very good state.' The portrait has since been identified as that of the Marguis Ambose de Spinola, born in Genoa, 1569, died near Casale, Piedmont, 1630. He was commander-in-chief of the Spanish army in the Netherlands, and was the hero of the siege of Breda, immortalized by Velasquez in his celebrated painting representing the surrender of the keys of that citadel, and known as Las Lanzas. In that painting Velasquez drew Spinola's portrait from memory, and it bears a striking resemblance to the present likeness. 43 GN