Focusing on the interrelationship between Jacob van Loo's art, honor, and career, this book argues that Van Loo's lifelong success and unblemished reputation were by no means incompatible, as art historians have long assumed, with his specialization in painting nudes and his conviction for manslaughter. Van Loo's iconographic specialty - the nude - allowed his clientele to present themselves as judges of beauty and display their mastery of decorum, while his portraiture perfectly expressed his clients' social and political ambitions. Van Loo's honor explains why his success lasted a lifetime, whereas that of Rembrandt, Frans Hals, and Vermeer did not. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, this book reinterprets the manslaughter case as a sign that Van Loo's elite patrons recognized him as a gentleman and highly-esteemed artist. Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1 - Life The State of Flanders: Where Wolves Outnumbered Men The Hague The Affluent Bachelor Settling Down, Moving Up Great Success Manslaughter Starting Over in Saint-Germain The Royal Academy The Ambassador Artist Founder of the Van Loo Dynasty Chapter 2 - Artistic Output Training Studio Practice Authenticity History on a Grand Scale Cabinet Pictures Fashionable Portraiture Paris, 1661-70 Chapter 3 - Clientele Archival Data Clientele Portraiture in Amsterdam Figure Paintings in Amsterdam Portraits in Paris Enduring Relationships The Huydecoper-Hinlopen Family The Huygens Family Chapter 4 - The Academic Nude and its Audience Documentary Evidence on Amsterdam's Academies European Art Academies The Theory of 'Welstant' The Surviving Academic Drawings Two Groups of Academic Draftsmen Empathy versus 'Welstant' Dutch Classicism: The Art of Standing Well Van Loo's Academic Mode An Audience for the Academic Nude Chapter 5 - The Manslaughter Case Homicide: A Matter of Honor 31 October 1660 Van Loo's Legal Case Pardon Ante Sententiam Friendship Van Loo's 'Honorable' Homicide Support from the Huydecoper-Hinlopen Family 'His Reputation regarding his Morality' Homicide in a European Context Appendices A List of Works B List of Early Owners C Transcriptions Notes Bibliography List of illustrations Photocredits Index