Helene Fourment "im Brautkleid",

um 1630/31

Material / Technology / Carrier

Eichenholz

Dimensions of the object

163,5 x 136,9 cm

Displayed

AP OG Saal VII

Department

Flämische Malerei

Genre

Malerei

Inventory number

340

Acquisition

1698 durch Kurfürst Max Emanuel von Gisbert van Colen erworben

Stock

Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen - Alte Pinakothek München

Citation

Peter Paul Rubens, Helene Fourment "im Brautkleid", um 1630/31, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen - Alte Pinakothek München, URL: https://www.sammlung.pinakothek.de/en/artwork/6kLaZ8PG8V (Last updated on 28.08.2023)

Originally planned as a three-quarter length portrait, the dimensions of this picture of Rubens’s second wife were increased to its present monumental format during the painting process itself. Despite its representative effect Rubens reduced the overall impression of formal grandeur. Although his wife is seated on a chair he depicts it at a slight tilt. In this way, he introduced a spontaneous and refreshing note that matched her youthful age. At the time of their wedding on 6 December, 1630, Helene Fourment was just sixteen years old and, as such, thirty-seven years younger than Rubens.