Portrait of Rubens’ Wife

Peter Paul Rubens, Unidentified (Flemish), Portrait of Rubens' Wife, 17th century, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Mabel Johnson Langhorne, 1956.11.28
Unidentified (Flemish), Peter Paul Rubens, Portrait of Rubens' Wife, 17th century, oil on canvas, 27 1821 14 in. (69.054.0 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Mabel Johnson Langhorne, 1956.11.28
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Artwork Details

Title
Portrait of Rubens’ Wife
Artists
Unidentified (Flemish)
Date
17th century
Dimensions
27 1821 14 in. (69.054.0 cm)
Credit Line
Bequest of Mabel Johnson Langhorne
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Portrait female — Rubens, Wife Of
Object Number
1956.11.28

Artwork Description

The subject of this portrait, Helena Fourment, was the second wife of the great Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). They married in 1630, when he was fifty-three and she was sixteen. During his lifetime, Rubens’s works were much admired and copied by other artists, as in this portrait done by an unidentified artist. Paintings by Rubens, and copies of them, were also popular among nineteenth-century American collectors. Harper’s Weekly and other magazines fed public interest in Rubens, printing stories about his family and his beautiful wife Helena. In 1877, Harper’s described her as a “proud, stately lady in rich costume, her countenance expressive of languid complacency,” attributes nicely captured in this seventeenth-century portrait.

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Stop 123: Portrait of Rubens’ Wife

Portrait of Rubens’ Wife
17th century, oil on canvas

UNIDENTIFIED
Copy after Peter Paul Rubens (Born: Siegen, Westphalia, Germany 1577– Died: Antwerp, Belgium 1640)

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