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Portrait of Hélène Fourment

Portrait of Hélène Fourment

Peter Paul Rubens (in circa 1630-1631)

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  • Sergey asked

    Where the quote from Rubens is taken from?
    From what letter?

  • Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen answered

    Dear Sergey, Excuse me for the delayed answer; I had to ask our curator of old masters and he was on vacation. But now he's back and answered that the quote is from a letter by Rubens to his friend Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peresc and written in 1634. Rubens is explaining why he had chosen to marry Hélène instead of a noble woman. He could have done the latter, because he was knighted by both the English and the Spanish king. The letter is published in: M. Rooses en C. Ruelens, Codex diplomaticus Rubenianus, 6 vols., Antwerpen 1887-1909, vol. VI, p. 82. I hope this is helpful. Kind regards, Els

  • nic asked

    This artwork was made in preparatory study for oil painting in Munich

  • Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen answered

    Thank you, that is indeed the case (as you can also read in the accompanying text). With kind regards, Els

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More information

In 1630 the 53-year-old Rubens married a 16-year-old girl named Hélène Fourment. She was the youngest daughter of Daniel Fourment, a merchant dealing in silk and tapestries in Antwerp. She was an acclaimed beauty. Rubens himself wrote: 'I prefer a wife who does not blush with shame when I take my brushes in hand'. He made this drawing as a preparatory study for an oil painting now in the Alte Pinacothek in Munich.

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Collection book

Collection book Order

Specifications

Title Portrait of Hélène Fourment
Material and technique Black chalk, in places red chalk, heightened with white
Object type
Drawing > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Location This object is in storage
Dimensions Height 488 mm
Width 320 mm
Artists Draughtsman: Peter Paul Rubens
Accession number V 45 (PK)
Credits Loan Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (former Koenigs collection), 1940
Department Drawings & Prints
Acquisition date 1940
Creation date in circa 1630-1631
Collector Collector / Franz Koenigs
Internal exhibitions Van Pisanello tot Cézanne (1992)
Rubens, Jordaens, Van Dyck en tijdgenoten (2001)
Material
Object
Technique
Highlight > Painting technique > Technique > Material and technique
Geographical origin Southern Netherlands > The Netherlands > Western Europe > Europe

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All about the artist

Peter Paul Rubens

Siegen 1577 - Antwerpen 1640

The Antwerp painter Peter Paul Rubens was appointed court artist to the Duke of Mantua in Italy at a young age. In 1603 he travelled to Madrid, where he was...

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