Rubens, His Wife Helena Fourment (1614–1673), and Their Son Frans (1633–1678)

Rubens, His Wife Helena Fourment (1614–1673), and Their Son Frans (1633–1678)

Painting in frame: overall

Painting in frame: corner

Painting in frame: angled corner

Profile drawing of frame. W 7 7/16 in. 18.8 cm (T. Newbery)

Rubens, His Wife Helena Fourment (1614–1673), and Their Son Frans (1633–1678)

Artist:Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, Siegen 1577–1640 Antwerp)
Date:ca. 1635
Medium:Oil on wood
Dimensions:80 1/4 x 62 1/4 in. (203.8 x 158.1 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, in honor of Sir John Pope-Hennessy, 1981

The artist, his wife Helena, and one of their sons appear within an idealized version of the garden at Rubens’s mansion in Antwerp, which survives to this day. The leather strap across Rubens’s chest alludes to his right, as a nobleman, to carry a sword, while the rhyming ribbon tied across his son’s chest playfully positions him as his father’s heir. There was a nearly forty-year age gap between Rubens and his second wife, whom contemporaries widely recognized as his muse and the model for paintings such as the Venus and Adonis also in this gallery. The juxtaposition of her plump and pearlescent young hand with his ruddy and weathered one emphasizes both their physical disparities and their erotic connection.

Copyright Image
https://images.metmuseum.org