Month: September 2020

Madonna del Prato (1505-1506)

Raffaello (1483-1520) Madonna del Prato (Madonna of the meadow) 1505–1506 Oil on poplar, 113 × 88.3 × 3.5 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Inscription on the hem of Mary’s dress with the year M.d.V. (perhaps also M.D.V.I. to be read) The group,…

Aeolus (early 17th century)

Rubens, Peter Paul (1577-1640) Aeolus early 17th century Oil on canvas, 140 x 126 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid This work, together with Vulcano y el fuego (P1717), has been considered part of a possible series of four paintings that would…

Head of Medusa (c.1613)

Rubens, Peter Paul (1577-1640) Head of Medusa c.1613 Oil on canvas, 68.5 × 118 × 2 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Perseus cunningly killed the snake-haired Medusa, who had petrified man and animal with her gaze (Ovid, Metamorphoses). The blood dripping from…

Family of Jan Brueghel the Elder (1613-1615)

Rubens, Peter Paul (1577-1640) Family of Jan Brueghel the Elder 1613–1615 Oil on panel, 95.2 x 125.1 cm Courtauld Institute of Art, London See also: • Brueghel, Jan the Elder (1568-1625) | Brueghel, Jan the Younger (1601-1678)

Bacchus (1638-1640)

Rubens, Peter Paul (1577-1640) Bacchus 1638–1640 Oil on canvas, 191 x 161.3 cm Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg Bacchanalia was a favourite theme in Rubens‘s work, although Bacchus himself was rarely the subject of his paintings. He saw the subject as reflecting…

The Honeysuckle Bower (c.1609-1610)

Rubens, Peter Paul (1577-1640) The Honeysuckle Bower c.1609–1610 Oil on canvas, transferred to wood, 178 x 136.5 cm Alte Pinakothek, Munich Rubens returned to Antwerp in 1608 after an eight-year stay in Italy. The following year he married Isabella Brant. This…

Portrait of a Man (1597)

Rubens, Peter Paul (1577-1640) Portrait of a Man, Possibly an Architect or Geographer 1597 Oil on copper, 21.6 x 14.6 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York This sensitive portrait on copper is one of Rubens’s earliest known works. The square…