This is one of the best portraits written by van Dyck in Italy. It is not known for certain who exactly posed for the artist, but we can assume that this is the second wife and four children of Giacomo Lomellini, who was the doge of the Genoa Republic in 1625-27. In those times in Genoa, as in Venice, elected the head of the city-state – the Doge.
However, if the Venetian doge could remain in his post all his life, then in Genoa he was elected only for two years. There was also a law according to which during the reign of the Doge it was impossible to portray him in the portrait – this explains why the portrait of the Lomellini family, written by van Dyck, lacks the head of the family.
The portrait was created exactly during the reign of Giacomo Lomellini, which confirms the age of the Doge children whose birth dates are well known. Two of his sons from the first marriage, Nicolo and Giovanni Francesca, were born in 1590 and 1601, therefore, one of the men on the canvas for thirty, the second – for twenty. On the right is Giacomo’s second wife, who gave birth to his daughter and son. Most likely, it is them that we see standing next to the mother. This portrait remained in the Lomellini family until 1830.
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