AcknowledgementsIntroductionChapter 1 - LifeThe State of Flanders: Where Wolves Outnumbered MenThe HagueThe Affluent BachelorSettling Down, Moving UpGreat SuccessManslaughterStarting Over in Saint-GermainThe Royal AcademyThe Ambassador ArtistFounder of the Van Loo DynastyChapter 2 - Artistic OutputTrainingStudio PracticeAuthenticityHistory on a Grand ScaleCabinet PicturesFashionable PortraitureParis, 1661-70Chapter 3 - ClienteleArchival DataClientelePortraiture in AmsterdamFigure Paintings in AmsterdamPortraits in ParisEnduring RelationshipsThe Huydecoper-Hinlopen FamilyThe Huygens FamilyChapter 4 - The Academic Nude and its AudienceDocumentary Evidence on Amsterdam's AcademiesEuropean Art AcademiesThe Theory of 'Welstant'The Surviving Academic DrawingsTwo Groups of Academic DraftsmenEmpathy versus 'Welstant'Dutch Classicism: The Art of Standing WellVan Loo's Academic ModeAn Audience for the Academic NudeChapter 5 - The Manslaughter CaseHomicide: A Matter of Honor31 October 1660Van Loo's Legal CasePardon Ante SententiamFriendshipVan Loo's 'Honorable' HomicideSupport from the Huydecoper-Hinlopen Family'His Reputation regarding his Morality'Homicide in a European ContextAppendicesA List of WorksB List of Early OwnersC TranscriptionsNotesBibliographyList of illustrationsPhotocreditsIndexFocusing 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.