Peter Paul Rubens - Damenbildnis

Peter Paul Rubens

1577 Siegen - 1640 Antwerpen

and Assistant

Portrait of a Lady

Bust portrait, turned slightly to the left, looking at the viewer. Label National Exhibition of Works of Art, Leeds (1868), pasted on stretcher frame. Rubens added in handwriting as well as several, partly illegible customs stamps. Oil on canvas. 62,2 x 53 cm. With additions. Canvas relined. Restored. Framed.

Baroque Thoughts and Feelings Peter Paul Rubens! Few artists have experienced the appreciation by both their contemporaries and posterity to a comparable degree. The work of the greatest Flemish painter of the 17th century influenced and inspired generations of artists - from Eugène Delacroix to Pablo Picasso. His painterly style is unique and the colourful term Rubenesque beauty has been adopted, colloquially, as a description of female attractiveness. At the mention of the name Rubens who does not think largely of monumental, dramatically composed works of mythological, historical or biblical content, manifested religious depictions of great sensitivity, late landscapes and lion hunts? In brief: Baroque thoughts and feelings in their purest painterly form? And then, in addition: representative equestrian portraits, depictions of high-ranking, magnificently clad members of society, and intimate and private portraits. Rubens: few artists were so little focussed on one genre as he who produced incomparable works in all. Coveted Collectors Items Rubens was more than aware of his prominent status not only as an artist, highly decorated diplomat and art collector. He succeeded in attracting large and important commissions from high-ranking, international clients thanks to the well-structured organisation of his workshop. As a result Peter Paul Rubens became enormously wealthy. Some 10,000 works are associated with Rubens (and his workshop). His works became coveted collectors items; to this day major museums throughout the world - like the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, for example - are also defined by their holdings of paintings by this artistic genius. Italy as a Formative Experience Peter Paul Rubens grew up in a comfortable environment, attended grammar school and entered the service of Marguerite de Linge, the widow of Philipp Lelaing, governor of the Flemish province of Hennegau, as a page. Much pointed to a political career for the young Peter Paul. Instead, however, he began an artistic apprenticeship in the workshops of Tobias Verhaecht, Adam van Noort and Otto van Veen. Rubens is listed as an independent master in the Liggeren, the record of members of the Antwerp Guild of St. Luke, in 1598. 1600 was the decisive year in Rubens career as a painter: on 8 May he was given a clean bill of health by the municipal authorities of Antwerp - a prerequisite for his trip and lengthy stay in Italy. That same year Rubens entered the service of the Duke of Mantua, Vincenzo I Gonzaga, as court painter. He visited Venice, Genoa and Rome, among other cities, studied and marvelled at the works he saw there by older as well as contemporary masters and was preoccupied with his thirst for knowledge of the art of Antiquity and the Renaissance. In Rome he was impressed by the works of Raphael and Michelangelo. In 1603 and 1605 Rubens travelled to Spain in the company of the Duke of Mantuas diplomatic delegation. Important works were painted there that document his swiftly evolving personal style. The impressive equestrian portrait of the Duke of Lerma (1603; Madrid, Prado), for example, his first masterpiece, should be mentioned in this context. After his return from Spain the number of commissions he was given increased significantly. In Genoa he established close ties to the local aristocracy and received commissions from the leading families - the Dorias, Spinolas and Grimaldis. Only a few works created specifically for the court in Mantua itself have survived. The artist retained his position there for eight years. During his reign, Vincenzo I Gonzagas court experienced its cultural heyday having promoted the poet Torquato Tasso and nurtured the young composer Claudio Monteverdi.

Rubens Teint In literature, Rubens Portrait of a Lady is dated to the second half of the period spent by the artist at the court of Gonzaga; according to Michael Jaffé it was painted in 1606/07. What we have here is a bust portrait with the figure turned slightly to the left. The eye of the - unknown - elegant sitter is directed at the viewer. Our attention is drawn immediately to the well-proportioned, youthful face, the delicately blushing cheeks, the sensual mouth with the beginning of a smile and the expressive eyes. The reddish-brown hair, elaborately coiffured, corresponds in its colouration to an ideal of beauty, as frequently celebrated by artists in Upper Italy. Of the ladys exquisite black dress only the upper arms can be seen properly: the sleeves - in keeping with the fashion of the time - are slitted, revealing in just a few places the pale violet of the material underneath. The garment is adorned with gold ornamental embellishments, highlighted by black stones in the middle. A dominant feature is the white ruff; a black veil is draped around her shoulders. The artists treatment of colour documents the typical painterly style he developed and refined during his stay in Italy and which would become his trademark. Not only did Rubens succeed - unlike any other of his contemporaries - in portraying the sitter from life and in showing a person with feelings who, through her tremendous presence, seems to enter into contact personally with the viewer. No, his peinture is exquisite, thought-through down to the smallest detail. With careful heightening in white Rubens lends the face plasticity, the skins surface gains its characteristic Rubens teint. The rendition of the hair is fascinating, created through the careful use of the scumbling technique while allowing the ground to shimmer through in many places. In this respect the present portrait is not inferior in any way to the important Genoese commissions, in particular, executed by the master. Unadulterated Biographical Document The ruff, by contrast, is unusually plain; the black veil is also depicted with little differentiation. The ruff and veil are the work of an assistant. The mourning jewellery of Gagates lapis (jet) was also probably added by the same person and the original ornamental stones in the hair altered to match. Without being able to take recourse to the large workshop he later ran in Antwerp, it may be assumed that Rubens called on his friend and first pupil Deodaat Delmonte (Deodatus van der Mont; 1582 Sint Truiden-1644 Antwerp) to carry out these changes. In 1600 Delmonte had journeyed to Italy with Rubens; both worked in Mantua and Rome and the two of them travelled back to Antwerp together in 1608. Technical examinations have revealed that the diameter of the ruff was originally very much larger and that the lace folds had obviously been executed with great precision. An x-ray confirms the unmistakable similarity to a portrait of the Marchesa Brigida Spinola Doria (1606; Washington, National Gallery of Art) and another portrait, possibly depicting the Marchesa Maria Grimaldi (c. 1606; Kingston Lacy, Dorset, National Trust). In the case of the portrait of Brigida Spinola Doria there is also a great similarity incidentally in the artistic and technical treatment of the hair. The reason for the alteration to the original design is probably because the sitter was widowed - and the magnificent, courtly attire was not deemed appropriate for a young widow. The original portrait would still have been on the easel when the alterations were made. The above-mentioned examination also revealed that, between the layers of paint, there are neither traces of varnish nor changes or dirtying conditioned by age. The immediacy perceived in this portrait gains another, highly emotionalised dimension through this alteration - that a portrait is not only the depiction of a person in the classical sense, in a generally advantageous pose in keeping with that figures status, but that a portrait can also document someones fate in an unadulterated fashion. The Feeling of Loss If, as someone living in the 21st century, one wants to try to understand earlier times and to immerse oneself in past cultures, the visual arts generally provide easy access initially. It is, however, well worth taking a closer look at other scholarly and artistic means of expression of that age - for example literature and music. Only in this way does one gain a feeling for the (intellectual) atmosphere of past eras. In the case of Mantua at the time of Vincenzo I Gonzaga this is particularly rewarding: the young prince liberated the famous poet Torquato Tasso from his imprisonment in the Arcispedale SantAnna in Ferrara and Mantua fundamentally experienced a major cultural heyday during his reign. Vincenzo similarly furthered the young composer Claudio Monteverdi: in 1607 his opera LOrfeo, considered the first classical opera in the history of music, was first performed. As court painter to the duke, Rubens may have had the opportunity of seeing the premiere of LOrfeo. The subject of the opera is loss: Orpheus loses his beloved Euridice who was bitten by a snake and descends into the Underworld. Apollo, as deus ex machina, comforts the distraught Orpheus and helps him to come to terms with what has happened. Let our imagination take flight: operas, compositions and artworks commissioned by the court would have been attentively received by contemporaries. Did Rubens, as court painter, manage to see the premiere of LOrfeo? And did our unknown beauty know of the opera as a result? At least it would seem that she could have cherished similar feelings to Orpheus when - mourning the death of her husband - she finally held the portrait in her hands. According to information kindly supplied by Dr. Bert Schepers of the Rubenianum, Antwerp, the present portrait will be included in the Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard series, in the forthcoming volume Addenda, corrigenda and indexes. In addition Dr. Schepers confirmed that Prof. Hans Vlieghe and Prof. Katlijne Van der Stighelen have together examined the painting first hand and that, following a recent enquiry, Hans Vlieghe maintains that the painting is an autograph work of Rubens, albeit with some overpaintings by another hand. Technical examination: Analytical report, Art Access Research, London (Dr. Jilleen Nadolny / Dr. Nicholas Eastaugh), 1 September 2012. Literature: Müller Hofstede, Justus, Bildnisse aus Rubens Italienjahren, in: Jahrbuch der Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen in Baden-Württemberg, vol. 2 (1965), pp. 89-154, here p. 136 ff., figs 86 and 87 (this painting). Jaffé, Michael, Rubens. Catalogo completo, Milan 1989, p. 157, cat. raisonné no. 52 Ritratto di una nobildonna (with fig.). Provenance: Ernst Dreyfuss-Wurmser Collection, Sankt Gallen (from 1964 onwards, at the latest). - Private collection. That the painting was exhibited in 1868 at the National Exhibition of Works of Art in Leeds, cannot be verified on the basis of the exhibition catalogue published. The corresponding label pasted onto the stretcher frame could possibly be interpreted as evidence that is was exhibited there without being included in the catalogue and, as such, as a complement to the large number of other works by Rubens. Acknowledgements We would like to thank Dr. Bert Schepers of the Rubenianum, Antwerp, for his kind cooperation with regard to the cataloguing and for pointing out the possible provenance of the painting between 1948 and 1964, the details of which will be revealed in the projected publication of the portrait in the above mentioned addenda volume to the Corpus Rubenianum. There is an oral loan request from the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart for the exhibition "Becoming Famous. Peter Paul Rubens" (22.10.2021-20.2.2022). The exhibition is curated by Prof. Dr. Nils Büttner (Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste) and Dr. Sandra-Kristin Diefenthaler (Staatsgalerie Stuttgart) and is under the patronage of the Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. There is also interest in a loan for the exhibition "Rubens e i Palazzi di Genova" (6.10.2022 - 22.1.2023) which will take place in Genoa in the Palazzo Ducale and the museums of the Strada Nuova.