Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641) had three “seasons” as a painter. He was a Flemish prodigy, an Italian wanderer, and a court painter to Charles I of England. Genoa was where the middle chapter happened. Between 1621 and 1627, the artist lived and worked in the city, painting the great aristocratic families of the Ligurian Republic in portraits of grandeur and psychological penetration. The Genoese nobility had never been depicted like that before. Presenting the largest Van Dyck retrospective in 25 years, Palazzo Ducale brings together 60 paintings across 10 thematic sections. Works have come from the Louvre, the Prado, the Uffizi, Brera, and the National Gallery, in London, among others. —Elena Clavarino