Judas Thaddaeus

Around 1620 Van Dyck made a series of half-height portraits of Jesus and the twelve apostles. At that time he worked for Peter Paul Rubens, who had also made such a series. It is known as the Böhler series after the German art dealer who purchased the panels in the 1910s.

This portrait shows the apostle Judas Thaddaeus, also known as Saint Jude. He is not to be confused with Judas Iscariot, the traitor. Tradition has it that he was the author of the Epistle of Jude. Hence the book in his right hand.

In the New Testament there is only one reference to Thaddaeus actually doing something. In John 14, during the Last Supper, he asks a question.