Van Dyck's reputation for ecclesiastical portraiture began early. In Rome, his portrait of Cardinal Bentivoglio was considered a restrained masterwork of deep characterisation, a picture praised for finding the person inside the office rather than simply recording its trappings^[1]. That same instinct, plain dress, a searching expression, and colour used sparingly rather than for display, carried through his later work for senior clergy in the Low Countries. A bishop's portrait in this vein trades the silk and armour of Van Dyck's court sitters for black cloth and a direct gaze, asking the viewer to read seriousness in restraint rather than in display.

Ghent was more than an incidental sitting for Van Dyck. His Crucifixion, painted for the Church of St Michael in the city, was reportedly among the most expensive paintings he sold in the years around 1627 to 1632, when his prices for individual works ran between 500 and 800 Antwerp guilders^[2]. That commission put Van Dyck in direct contact with the city's religious establishment during the same years its bishop, Antoine Triest, held office, a period when a senior churchman of Ghent commissioning or receiving a portrait from the city's most sought-after painter would not have been unusual.