Portrait of Helena Fourment (1614-1673), the Artist’s Second Wife

Portrait of Helena Fourment (1614-1673), the Artist’s Second Wife

SK-C-295

Portret van Helena Fourment (1614-1673), de tweede echtgenote van de schilder. Ten halven lijve, met een halsketting en een groot sieraad op de borst.

• painter: after Peter Paul Rubens
• painter: workshop of Peter Paul Rubens [rejected attribution]

c. 1650

oil on panel

• support: height 75 cm x width 55.6 cm
• outer size: depth 12 cm (support incl. frame)

On loan from the City of Amsterdam (A. van der Hoop Bequest)

Public domain

…; purchased by Antoine-Jean-Baptiste Dutartre (1714-1804), Paris (‘Le troisième [painting by Rubens] représente une des femmes de Rubens, peinte par lui’), between 1770-80{B.B. Fredericksen and B. Peronnet (eds.), _Repertoire des tableaux vendus en France au XIXe siècle_, I (1801-10), pt. 1 (A-N), pt. 2 (O-Z et Anonymes), Los Angeles 1998-, pt. 1, p. 25, under no. 72.} or by 1787;{L.-V. Thiéry, _Guide des amateurs et des étrangers voyageurs à Paris_, 2 vols., Paris 1787, I, pp. 584-85.} his sale, Paris (A. Paillet), 19 March 1804, no. 18 (‘Rubens. Le Portrait d’une des plus belles Femmes de ce grand Coloriste, représentée de face à mi-corps, dans le plus riche Costume de Cour. Elle est coiffée d’une large chevelure simplement ornée d’une branche d’oranger qui laisse voir encore un petit ornement de pierreries. A ses oreilles sont des Pendeloques de perles, et son cou est paré d’un Collier dont l’orient produit la plus grande illusion, en se détachant avec art sur la plus brillante carnation. […] (Supp: sur bois _Dim._ haut de 27, large de 20 [approx. 73 x 54 cm])’), frs. 8,600, to the dealer Maurice for Lucien Bonaparte (1775-1840);{B.B. Fredericksen and B. Peronnet (eds.), _Repertoire des tableaux vendus en France au XIXe siècle_, I (1801-10), pt. 1 (A-N), pt. 2 (O-Z et Anonymes), Los Angeles 1998-, pt. 1, pp. 25-26, under no. 72, and pt. 2, pp. 947-48 under 1804/03/19/0018.} transferred from Paris, following the exile of Lucien Bonaparte, to Rome, Palazzo Lancellotti, Primo Salone, no. 2 (‘Ritratto di Donna del Rubens’), in 1804;{List of 13 June 1804 by Domenico Conti Bazzani in M. Natoli (ed.), _Luciano Bonaparte: Le sue collezione d’arte, le sue residenze a Roma, nel Lazio, in Italia (1804-1840)_, Rome 1995, app. 1, p. 40.} transferred to Palazzo Nuñez, Room 7, no. 72, 1806-10, 1811-22;{G.A. Guattani, _Galleria del Senatore Luciano Bonaparte_, 2 vols., Rome 1808, II, p. 3.} transferred via Bologna to Paris, 1826;{Application of 17 October 1823 to export ‘Rubens: Ritratto della sua moglie’ to Bologna, see M. Natoli (ed.), _Luciano Bonaparte: Le sue collezione d’arte, le sue residenze a Roma, nel Lazio, in Italia (1804-1840)_, Rome 1995, app. 4, p. 45. License granted to export (from the Papal States) ‘Il Ritratto della moglie di Rubens’, for the purpose of sale, 12 January 1826, see Natoli 1995, app. 5, pp. 46-47.} from Lucien Bonaparte, frs. 20,000 or £ 800, perhaps with SK-C-284, to the dealer Armand-Jacques Fossard, Paris, 1826;{B.B. Fredericksen and B. Peronnet (eds.), _Repertoire des tableaux vendus en France au XIXe siècle_, I (1801-10), pt. 1 (A-N), pt. 2 (O-Z et Anonymes), Los Angeles 1998-, pt. 2, p. 1407. J. Smith, _A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish and French Painters_, 9 vols., London 1929-42, II, no. 800 and idem, IX, no. 269.} from whom, frs. 1,300 or £ 520, to the dealer John Smith, London, July 1830;{Smith, in a handwritten entry for no. 200, pp. 225-26 (his interleaved, working copy of his printed catalogue of 1830 is in the National Gallery library), stated: ‘The portrait of this handsome & favorite [_sic_] wife of Rubens occurs so frequently among that artist’s works (historical as well as portraiture) that there can be no question of the high opinion he entertained of her beauty […] The Picture […] is a glorious example of genius, influenced by the ardour of Love. A most seductive & fascinating expression animates the countenance, which is enhanced by the most dazzling fairness of complexion & the rosy blush of health. These are accomplished by a rich and juicy empasto [_sic_] of colour, wrought with inimitable care and attention to detail & set of [_sic_] to superlative advantage by the surrounding parts, which are rendered most skilfully, subordinate to that object & are painted with an assumed negligence for that purpose & dextrous freedom of hand.’} from whom, with SK-C-284, £ 800, to Adriaan van der Hoop (1778-1854), Amsterdam, July 1833;{Smith & Successors, _Stock Book, 1822-1850_, p. 35; Day Book, II, p. 396: ‘A magnificent Portrait of Helena Fourment by Rubens … from Colln of Lucien Bonaparte in a 7½ in. [19 cm] richly carved gilt frame-800’, Ledger, National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1829-1866, p. 46. Van der Hoop _Lijst_, p. 5, no. 66: ‘Portret van Helena Forman, tweede vrouw van P.P. Rubens, door hem geschilderd […] fl. 8600’.} by whom bequeathed to the City of Amsterdam with 223 other paintings, 1854;{Van der Hoop _Taxatie_ 1854, p. 3, no. 66: ‘P.P. Rubbens, portret van Helena Forment, fl. 6000’.} on loan from the City of Amsterdam to the museum, since 30 June 1885{Provenance also reconstructed in A. Pollmer-Schmidt, ‘Catalogus van de schilderijen in de verzameling van Adriaan van der Hoop’, in E. Bergvelt et al. (eds.), _De Hollandse meesters van een Amsterdamse bankier. De verzameling van Adriaan van der Hoop (1778-1854)_, exh. cat. Amsterdam (Amsterdams Historisch Museum/Rijksmuseum) 2004-05, pp. 135-195, esp. p. 171, no. 148.}

• Rijksmuseum Kunstkrant 3 (1977) nr. 7.
• L. van Puyvelde, 'Les portraits des femmes de Rubens', La Revue de l'Art : Revue de l'Art ancien et moderne 71 (1937), p. 14.

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https://id.rijksmuseum.nl/20026225