Whether you are drawn to Cristofano dell'Altissimo's exotic "Portrait of Alchitrof, " king of Ethiopia (1580s), a fringe of pearls hanging from his lower lip, to Peter Paul Rubens's magnificently aristocratic "Head of an African Man Wearing a Turban" (c.1609), or to the startlingly lifelike ebonized and giltwood statue of St.

WSJ: Less Familiar Faces | Revealing the African Presence in Renaissance Europe | Princeton University Art Museum | By Barrymore Laurence Scherer

The identity of the "Gentleman" in the portrait is not known, but it is thought he may be Juan Mateos, the king's master of the hunt.

CNN: Newly-discovered Velazquez portrait sells for $4.7m

Anthony Van Dyck, one of the finest portrait painters of the 17th Century, was born in Antwerp and became court artist for King Charles I in London in 1632.

BBC: Van Dyck painting 'found online'