Table of contents:
- About the master
- Elena Fourman
- Marriage with Elena
- Coat
- Elena - the wife of the messenger
- Peter Rubens, his wife Elena Fourment and their son
- Elena Fourman and Frans Rubens
Video: From whom Rubens wrote his famous Venus, or When the wife is 38 years younger than the master
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Some said about Elena Fourman that she was "undoubtedly the most beautiful of all who can be seen here in the Netherlands." Others considered "Helena from Antwerp to be much superior in beauty to Helena from Troy." Many wanted to praise the beauty of the blonde beauty, but her loving husband, Peter Paul Rubens himself, could tell about her most delightfully. For him, Elena Fourman was his beloved wife, muse, and the standard of female beauty.
About the master
Peter Paul Rubens, one of the great Flemish painters of the 17th century, was a prominent figure in commissions from the Catholic Church, royal courts and aristocratic circles. Trained in Antwerp, Rubens traveled to Italy in 1600, where he absorbed the techniques and plots of Italian masters (Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Correggio, Tintoretto, Caravaggio and Annibale Carracci). An artist with high expressiveness and creativity, Rubens was also one of the most adventurous painters. In particular, he managed to organize a large workshop in which pupils and students worked, and also presented numerous religious and mythological paintings, works of classical and modern history, as well as portraits.
Rubens had such a significant influence on the history of art that even the term "Rubensk" was formed. It is still used today to describe large, fleshy women who resemble models from Rubens' masterpieces. The appearance of the term was largely facilitated by Rubens's beloved wife, Elena Fourman.
Elena Fourman
Helena Fourman (April 11, 1614 - July 15, 1673) was the second wife of the Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens. Many of her portraits belong to his brush, and Elena was also a model for a number of religious and mythological paintings. Elena Fourman was the youngest daughter of Daniel I Fourman, a wealthy silk and carpet merchant in Antwerp. Daniel Fourman was an art lover and owned works by Rubens and Jacob Jordaens, as well as works by Italian masters. In addition, he also commissioned from Rubens a series of tapestries depicting the life of Achilles.
Marriage with Elena
“I decided to get married because I didn't want to live in renunciation and celibacy. I took a wife from a good, bourgeois family, although the whole world tried to convince me to marry a lady of the court. I was afraid of pride, the plague of nobility. So I liked the idea of having a wife who doesn't blush at the sight of my brush. (Rubens in a letter to his friend Nicola-Claude Fabri de Peyrescu).
In Helena Fourman, a 16-year-old girl whom he married in 1630 at the age of 54, Rubens found the type of feminine beauty that was closest to him. Even Rubens' closest friends did not refrain from commenting on the large age difference between the bride and groom. However, this did not interfere with the happiness of the two people. Again and again you can find this spicy blonde in his works, even where it is not about portraits. She is the Flemish Helena, precisely created by nature for Rubens. A healthy complexion, lush brown hair, full forms create a type of purely Rubensian beauty.
Coat
At one of the works, she stands naked, only a fur coat is thrown over a blooming body. Rubens presented this work to his young wife as a heartfelt gift. Elena herself adequately kept an invaluable gift and never sold the painting. The work was inherited by her children and was not registered in the art gallery's inventory until 1730. In the painting, Elena's sensual body is only partially covered with a dark fur mantle, which is depicted in all technical detail. The position of her hands is not accidental: it resembles the classic type of Venus Pudika (from Latin “modest”) - an innocent virgin who does not accept carnal love. The red color of the carpet emphasizes the ruddy cheeks of the model.
Thus, Rubens goes beyond the purely portrait genre: the image of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, resonates in this work. In addition, he depicts his own version of the work seen by a colleague. Not long before the creation of "Fur Coat" Rubens saw "The Girl in a Fur Cape" by Titian in the collection of the English king and copied the plot.
Elena - the wife of the messenger
In other jobs, she is dressed in luxurious attire, as befits the wife of a messenger, in a black or yellow silk dress. Thick strands of pearls adorn the neck and arms. Sometimes she plays a musical instrument in a silk dress like Saint Cecilia, and angels frolic around her. Sometimes she sits on the pillared terrace of her castle with her little son on her lap. Just as Rubens married a woman who was as if created by Rubens' brush, he painted other women like Fourman.
It was not only her husband who admired the beauty of Elena. Elena Fourman has often been called the most beautiful woman of all time. In particular, Cardinal Infant Ferdinand, then governor of the Netherlands, said that she was "undoubtedly the most beautiful of all who can be seen here in the Netherlands." The poet Gaspard Guevartius, a friend of Rubens, often praised "Helena from Antwerp, who is far superior to Helena from Troy."
Peter Rubens, his wife Elena Fourment and their son
And the next job seems to be celebrating their happy marriage. Brightness of colors and sharp presentation of figures make this painting one of the most magnificent in the work of Rubens. He related this work to the theme of the Garden of Love. The fountain and caryatid are symbols of fertility. The artist's warm, caring expression and the gentle gesture of his hand testify to his sincere love for Elena.
Elena Fourman and Frans Rubens
In the next painting by Rubens, the young wife is depicted leaving her palace in Antwerp, reminiscent of an Italian palazzo. He appears here with his son Frans, who was born in 1633. The boy looks 6 or 7 years old and wears a red suit with a flat white collar. The splendor of the portrait is embodied in Elena's luxurious outfit. She is dressed in an expensive black dress in Spanish style with purple delicate bows and a hat with pompoms. The two-window carriage symbolizes marital harmony, and the gesture of the right hand speaks of the heroine's modesty. Rubens masterfully embodies a variety of materials and textures, painting them in very soft monochrome shades of black, which create a striking, deliberate contrast to the snow-white skin of the model.
At the time of writing this work (1639), Rubens, as court painter to the Archdukes of Flanders, Albert and Isabella, was a wealthy and successful artist known throughout Europe.
During his career, Rubens spent several periods of his life in Italy, which allowed him to be inspired by the classical culture of antiquity. The portrait of his young wife follows the tradition of the great Renaissance portrait painters such as Titian and Veronese. But Rubens gives the composition a special dynamism, depicting Elena in motion: he caught the moment when she descended the steps of their house. Moreover, we observe the scene from a low angle, which enhances the greatness of the young woman in a dominant position in relation to the viewer. The painting is one of the last portraits of Rubens with Elena, executed in a luxurious and lively Baroque manner. With the model that inspired the artist so much in the last years of his life.
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