Marie Ruthven, Lady van Dyck, c.1639 (oil on canvas) (detail of 498155)

Marie Ruthven (d. 1645), daughter of Patrick Ruthven (d. 1652) and Elisabeth Woodford; she was a lady in waiting to the French Catholic Queen Henrietta Maria and was probably selected because of her Catholicism; married Sir Anthony van Dyck on 27 February 1640; depicted with a headdress of oak leaves in allusion to her husband's name (meaning in Dutch, oak or holm oak); in her hands she displays prominently a rosary, indicating that she was a Catholic; one daughter, Justiniana, was born of the marriage on 1 December, 1640; Sir Anthony van Dyck died on 9 December, on the day of his daughter's baptism;