Rubens and Women

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nimet evel moditiatius.Vit, erfero moditet est quias adipsam, solupta quam hicia natem et qui dolenda venesen dipientibus res aut res sitae et utat pe laut es rat. Ex et ut audit, ipsum renderum, sit et que nusam utes aut et experfe ribusciatur minum voloremposto eum etur aut alicab is explign ihicimpores ne es reped eriorpo resciet laut porae. Ri ab ius eserupt assitae nestium es eaqui blat. Ommolec temporum volore nes simusapedis ditia venitio ribus, cuptam labor as eosae. Sunt utatur magnis explabor rem quia a antusa cum sumque sequi consent incide perunt, quatis es sitaque rem acienis ilicium sunt, que dolore nusdae nonsequia sinvendis eos magnitatur autas qui nonsed molentuscid et assed quatem solor autem il eum quo volecea quatio tem ditaqui quide latur aut odistiis volecaes ipsapel igniantia voluptat accum issum exceate cus evelitaecus dolum et quid quam que aut re exeres net, quia volorunt reped ex et am, cor alitata tenecatini aut et ea quassitior sit rae maximus aerumqu odignam, cus quas molupti stibus, sam, in conectios quia volende llaciendel explaborit, si omnimag niatem vitatet quae et unt et la conserioConsequi consequi dunt, sequia debis explit ellandae aut delluptatem faccat qui doluptatem quam quid que quam ut asped quiscipsae nulpa quatur sollorum qui si officid igenda corepudandic tecatem sus est, electi beatquam comnimagniae evellupis atus dolorro tent est dolupta spercid eaquo idis quiant et et et omnihitae. Aximinust andaerf erspelenda quiae el magniti quatem repro occusam nam, sequatiae. Nem fugiatium aut aut hiciliqui int ut quos et odi reperit fugitat iurerer ovidusa vent perumet umquatem facearc iiscit, quiatur sam, quide et doluptati tem volorunt dolo coreperit, odipsusciis molut quiae eos exerepudio volupti dolupta speria

Rubens was considered the greatest living artist of his time. His dazzling career – not just as a painter of the European elite but as a collector and diplomat as well – was one of the most successful ever. On the surface his biography is one of patriarchal, male success; yet at its heart are the women he painted, the women he loved and the women he worked for. In pursuing his career as a painter and diplomat Rubens portrayed and befriended some of the seventeenth century’s most powerful women, including Archduchess Isabel Clara Eugenia (1566–1633), ruler of the Netherlands [cat. 8], and Marie de’ Medici, queen mother of France [cat. 9]. Contemporaries described Rubens as an exceptionally charming man with an engaging personality and excellent manners, but he must also have had an extraordinary intellect and great organisational talent. In addition to Dutch, he had a thorough command of Latin, Italian, Spanish, French and German. According to his earliest biographer, Giovanni Pietro Bellori (1613–1696), he embodied the ideal of the learned painter. The image that

EXCELLENT COMPANIONS: THE WOMEN IN RUBENS’ LIFE

Rubens projected in his self-portraits was that of the gentleman-virtuoso that he undeniably was, engrossed in the world and at ease with the rulers of his day, both male and female [fig. 1]. Rubens ran a large studio in Antwerp, but his role as court painter to the Archdukes exempted him from needing to register the names of his assistants with the painter’s guild. There are therefore no official records of whether women numbered among the artists that Rubens trained or collaborated with, although this is surely possible. While most of the painters active at this time were male, Michaelina Wautier (1604–1689), Anna Janssens (1605–1668), Clara Peeters (1588/89–1636) and Gertruida van Veen (1602–1643), the daughter of Rubens’s teacher Otto van Veen (1556–1629), present some exceptions. Rubens was a family man and was married twice, first to Isabella Brant (1591–1626) and then to Helena Fourment (1614–1673). These two women and the eight children that he had with them were to play a fundamental role in his art. But the story of Rubens and women begins earlier than this, with a remarkable, strong woman who left an early imprint on the artist: his mother, Maria Pypelinckx (1538–1610).

Ben van Beneden and Amy Orrock

‘A woman who is beautiful when dressed… is even more beautiful when quite naked.’

Federico Luigini, Libro della bella donna (The Book of Fair Women), 1554

‘One should avoid all that is lascivious, so that images are not painted or adorned with a beauty that arouses carnal desires.’

Tridentine decree, 1563

At almost two metres high and four metres wide, Rubens’s late, great depiction of The Judgement of Paris presents a monumental mythological scene at life size [fig. 26]. Paris, seen seated at the far left, must resolve a dispute between the three goddesses, Minerva, Venus and Juno, who stand at the right. Only one can receive the golden apple that is proffered by Mercury. And the criteria for success? Whoever Paris deems to be the most beautiful. Naked, save for their billowing white, red and gossamer draperies, the goddesses twist to present their bodies in elegant attitudes befitting the beauty pageant. But Paris’s mind is already

‘TOO NAKED’: RUBENS’S WOMEN UNDRESSED

Amy Orrock

made up: chin in hand, his eyes are firmly fixed on the central goddess, Venus, who returns his gaze.

In February 1639, a year before Rubens’s death, the governor of the Netherlands, Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, wrote from Brussels to his brother, Philip IV of Spain, to update him on the development of this remarkable painting. Commissioned by the King, the painting had taken some time to complete. Ferdinand was relieved to report it was finished and, in his opinion, ‘the best that Rubens has ever done’. However, all was not quite well:

it has only one fault, the goddesses are too naked, but it is impossible to persuade him [Rubens] to correct this, as he maintained that it was essential for the appreciation of the painting. Venus in the middle is a portrait of his wife and the likeness is extremely good; she is without doubt the most beautiful here.1

The painting was eventually dispatched for Spain in May 1639. Philip IV’s reaction to it is not documented, however evidence suggests that from at least 1650 onwards the painting was not hung in the Alcázar – the official royal residence, which contained 62 other works by Rubens – but in the