Helena Fourment with Children

Helena Fourment with Children is a c.1636 painting by Peter Paul Rubens, showing his second wife Helena Fourment with their son Frans (born 12 July 1633) in her arms and their daughter Clara Johanna (born 18 January 1632) standing to their left. It was acquired by Louis XVI of France in 1784 and is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris.

Description

The painting is an oil on canvas measuring 1.15 m. on 0.85 m.^[1]

This represents Hélène Fourment (1614–1673), the second wife of the painter Pierre Paul Rubens. Daughter of a wealthy merchant in tapestries, she married the painter in 1630^[2] at the age of 16 while the latter, widower of his first wife, was 53 at the time of the wedding.^[3] She is surrounded by two of their children: Clara-Johanna (born in 1632) and Frans (born in 1633).

In the center of the composition, Hélène Fourment wears a simple white dress and hugs her son Frans. The latter looks in the direction of the viewer. Clara-Johanna is standing on the left and turns her gaze towards her mother and her brother.^[4]

A pentimento reveals, between the heads of Frans and Clara-Johanna, the arms of a third child, Isabelle, born in 1635. Certain colors have also never been completely affixed, such as the blue in the upper right corner which presents white streaks. Rubens thus leaves a partially unfinished work.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b Recht, Roland (2020), "Postface", Louvre, Collège de France, doi:10.4000/books.cdf.10257, ISBN 9782722605596, S2CID 241619962, retrieved 1 April 2022
^ Le Bitouzé, Corinne; Thompson, Marie (1 June 2016). "Le Catalogue général de la BnF s'enrichit de 51000 descriptions d'estampes françaises du xviiie siècle". Nouvelles de l'Estampe (255): 88–89. doi:10.4000/estampe.524. ISSN 0029-4888.
^ Larousse, Éditions. "Larousse.fr : encyclopédie et dictionnaires gratuits en ligne". www.larousse.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 April 2022.
^ Lescourret, Marie-Anne (2004). Rubens. Paris: Flammarion. ISBN 2-08-210337-4. OCLC 417675363.

External links

Catalogue entry

v t e Peter Paul Rubens
Paintings and drawings	The Descent from the Cross (Siegen; 1600–1602) Leda and the Swan (1601, 1602) The Deposition (1602) Self-Portrait in a Circle of Friends from Mantua (1602–1605) Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Lerma (1603) Portrait of a Young Woman (1603) Hercules and Omphale (1603) Heraclitus and Democritus (1603) Virgin and Child (c. 1604) The Fall of Phaeton (c. 1604/1605) The Baptism of Christ (1604–1605) The Gonzaga Family in Adoration of the Holy Trinity (1604–1605) Transfiguration (1604–1605) The Circumcision (1605) Portrait of Marchesa Brigida Spinola-Doria (1606) Portrait of Maria di Antonio Serra (1606) Portrait of a Noblewoman with an Attendant (1606) Portrait of Giovanni Carlo Doria on Horseback (1606) Madonna della Vallicella (1606–1608) Susanna and the Elders (1607) The Head of Saint John the Baptist Presented to Salome (c. 1609) Adoration of the Magi (Madrid; 1609 and 1628–29) Samson and Delilah (1609–1610) Honeysuckle Bower (1609–1610) Coronation of the Virgin (1609–1611) Juno and Argus (1610) Raising of the Cross (1610–1611) Conversion of Saint Paul (London; 1610–1612) Massacre of the Innocents (c. 1611) Venus Frigida (1611) Prometheus Bound (1611–1612) The Four Philosophers (1611–1612) Antwerp Resurrection (1611–1612) Visitation (c. 1611–1615) Roman Charity (1612) Ecce Homo (1612) Descent from the Cross (Antwerp; 1612–1614) Saint Teresa of Ávila's Vision of the Holy Spirit (Rotterdam; 1612–1614) Saint Teresa of Ávila's Vision of the Holy Spirit (Cambridge; c. 1614) The Tribute Money (1612–1614) The Defeat of Sennacherib (1612–1614) The Four Continents (1610s) Christ Giving the Keys to Saint Peter (1612–1614) Portrait of a Commander (1613) The Crowning of the Virtuous Hero (1613–1614) The Incredulity of Saint Thomas (1613–1615) The Death of Adonis (1614) Venus and Adonis (1614) St Sebastian (c. 1614) The Virgin Mary and Saint Francis Saving the World from Christ's Anger (c. 1614) Madonna della Cesta (1615) Ixion, King of the Lapiths, Deceived by Juno, Who He Wished to Seduce (1615) Daniel in the Lions' Den (1615) Bacchanalia (c. 1615) A Statue of Ceres (c. 1615) The Hippopotamus and Crocodile Hunt (1615–1616) The Tiger Hunt (1615–1616) Theodosius and Saint Ambrose (1615–1616) The Wild Boar Hunt (1615-1617) Florence Resurrection (1616) The Virgin and Child Surrounded by the Holy Innocents (1616) Erichthonius Discovered by the Daughters of Cecrops (c. 1616) The Wolf and Fox Hunt (c. 1616) The Lion and Leopard Hunt (c. 1616) Romulus and Remus (1615–1616) Saint Stephen Triptych (1616–1617) Two Women with a Candle (1616–1617) Descent from the Cross (Lille; 1616–1617) The Meeting Between Abraham and Melchizedek (1616–1617) Christ and the Penitent Sinners (1617) Mars and Rhea Silvia (1617) The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man (1617) The Great Last Judgement (1617) A Bearded Man (c. 1617–18) Adoration of the Magi (Lyon; 1617–1618) The Five Senses (1617–1618) Two Satyrs (1618) Medusa (1618) The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus (c. 1618) Christ Triumphant over Sin and Death (c. 1618) The Prodigal Son (1618) The Union of Earth and Water (c. 1618) Tigress with Her Cubs (attributed; 1618) Mucius Scaevola before Lars Porsenna (c. 1618–1620) Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee (1618–1620) The Wild Boar Hunt (1618-1620) St Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy (1619–1620) The Small Last Judgement (1619) Conversion of Saint Paul (1620s) The Fall of the Damned (c. 1620) Landscape with Philemon and Baucis (c. 1620) Portrait of a Young Man in Armor (c. 1620) Saint George and the Dragon (c. 1620) Perseus Freeing Andromeda (1620) Saints Dominic and Francis Saving the World from Christ's Anger (1620) The Rape of Orithyia by Boreas (1620) Christ on the Cross (1620) The Three Graces (Florence; 1620–1623) Isabella Brant (c. 1621) The Lion Hunt (1621) Marie de' Medici cycle (1621–1630) Portrait of Susanna Lunden (1622) Perseus and Andromeda (c. 1622) The History of Constantine (1622–1625) Self-Portrait (1623) The Conversion of Saint Bavo (1623–1624) Diana and Her Nymphs Leaving for the Hunt (1623–1624) Adoration of the Magi (Antwerp; 1624) The Reconciliation of Esau and Jacob (1624) Christ Appointing Saint Roch as Patron Saint of Plague Victims (1623–1626) Portrait of Infante Isabella Clara Eugenia (1625) Portrait of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham (c. 1625) Assumption of the Virgin Mary (1625–1626) Angelica and the Hermit (c. 1626–1628) Henry IV at the Battle of Ivry (1627) The Triumphal Entry of Henry IV into Paris (1627) The Annunciation (1627–1628) The Fall of Man (1628–1629) The Rape of Europa (1628–1629) Minerva Protecting Peace from Mars (1629–1630) Cimon and Pero (1630) Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata (c. 1630) The Crowning of Saint Catherine (1631) The Ildefonso Altarpiece (1630–1631) Last Supper (1630–1631) Odysseus on the Island of the Phaecians (1630–1635) The Finding of Erichthonius (1632–1634) The Rainbow Landscape (Saint Petersburg; 1632–1635) The Garden of Love (c. 1633) Adoration of the Magi (Cambridge; 1634) Bathsheba at the Fountain (c. 1635) The Dance of the Villagers (1635) Helena Fourment with Her Son Frans (1635) Venus and Adonis (New York; 1635) The Triumph of the Church (1635) The Feast of Venus (1635–1636) The Feast of Herod (1635–1638) The Village Fête (1635–1638) Mercury and Argus (1635–1638) Hercules's Dog Discovers Purple Dye (c. 1636) Helena Fourment with Children (1636) A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning (1636) Saturn (1636) The Rainbow Landscape (London; 1636) Pallas and Arachne (1636–1637) Het Pelsken (1636–1638) The Birth of the Milky Way (c. 1637) Consequences of War (c. 1638) Hercules in the Garden of the Hesperides / Deianira Listens to Fame (1638) The Three Graces (Madrid; 1636–1638) The Rape of Ganymede (1636–1638) Diana and Callisto (1637–1638) Helena Fourment with a Carriage (1638) Self-Portrait (Vienna; 1638–1639) Bacchus (1638–1640) The Rape of the Sabine Women (1639–1640) The Peasants Returning From The Fields (1640) The Rainbow Landscape (Munich; 1640) Judgment of Paris (various)
Tapestries	The History of Constantine (1622–1640) (with Pietro da Cortona)
Books	Palazzi di Genova (1622)
Museums	Rubenshuis
People	Rubens family Isabella Brant (first wife) Helena Fourment (second wife) Nicolaas Rubens, Lord of Rameyen (son) Albert Rubens (son) Jan Rubens (father) Maria Pypelinckx (mother) Philip Rubens (brother) Tobias Verhaecht (teacher) Adam van Noort (teacher) Otto van Veen (teacher) Nicolaas Rockox (friend)
Related	Poussinists and Rubenists Rubens (1977 film) Rubenesque Rubens' Europe (exhibition)

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