An ecstatic Saint Francis adores the infant Christ, who appears in this warm-hearted vision with the Virgin Mary, her mother Saint Anne, a subdued Saint Joseph, and a playful young Saint John the Baptist. Rubens made a number of modifications in the course of work, intensifying the friar’s impetuous movement and revising the Virgin’s pose from a formal profile to a casual expansiveness. Two other versions are in the Royal Collection and the San Diego Museum of Art. American taste was slow to embrace the exuberant emotionalism of Rubens; this is the first of his works to enter an American public collection.

Forthcoming

?the artist, Peter Paul Rubens, Antwerp (until d. 1640; his estate); ?Andries de Schutter (by 1645); ?Justus Sustermans, Florence; ?Cardinal Giovanni Carlo de' Medici, Florence (by 1646–d. 1663); Philip John Miles, Leigh Court, Somerset, near Bristol (by 1822–d. 1845; cat., 1822, no. 3, ill.); his son, Sir William Miles, 1st Baronet, Leigh Court (1845–d. 1878); his son, Sir Philip John William Miles, 2nd Baronet, Leigh Court (1878–d. 1888; his sale, Christie's, London, under the direction of the High Court of Justice, June 28, 1884, no. 61, for £5,250, bought in); his son, Sir Cecil Miles, 3rd Baronet, Leigh Court (1888–d. 1898; posthumous sale, Christie's, London, May 13, 1899, no. 26, for £8,715, to Agnew); [Agnew, London, from 1899]; [Sedelmeyer, Paris, in 1900; cat., 1900, no. 32, ill.]; F. O. Matthiessen, New York (until 1902; his estate sale, American Art Association, Mendelssohn Hall, New York, April 1–2, 1902, no. 141, for $50,000, to Blow); George P. Blow (1902); James Henry Smith, New York (1902)

London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Winter Exhibition," 1870, no. 80 (lent by Sir William Miles, Bart.).

New York. Wildenstein & Co., Inc.. "A Loan Exhibition of Rubens," February 20–March 31, 1951, no. 21.

Antwerp. Royal Museum of Fine Arts. "P. P. Rubens: Paintings—Oilsketches—Drawings," June 29–September 30, 1977, no. 99.

John Young. A Catalogue of the Pictures at Leigh Court, near Bristol . . . London, 1822, no. 3, ill. (Young's etching).

James Dallaway in Horace Walpole. Anecdotes of Painting in England. London, 1828, vol. 2, p. 180, as in the J. P. [sic] Miles collection.

John Smith. A Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the Most Eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters. 2, London, 1830, p. 221, under no. 784, as a duplicate of the Windsor picture; tentatively identifies it with the picture sold at Christie's in 1820 [but see Notes].

G[ustav]. F[riedrich]. Waagen. Works of Art and Artists in England. London, 1838, vol. 3, p. 141, as by Rubens.

G[ustav]. F[riedrich]. Waagen. "Kunstwerke und Künstler in England." Kunstwerke und Künstler in England und Paris. 2, Berlin, 1838, p. 351.

André van Hasselt. Histoire de P.-P. Rubens. Brussels, 1840, pp. 250–51, under no. 236, as a repetition of the Windsor picture.

Alfred Michiels. Catalogue des tableaux et dessins de Rubens. Paris, 1854, p. 11, no. 201, as a copy of the Windsor picture.

[Gustav Friedrich] Waagen. Treasures of Art in Great Britain. London, 1854, vol. 3, p. 182 [text similar to Ref. Waagen 1838], as by Rubens.

Claude Phillips. "Correspondance d'Angleterre." Gazette des beaux-arts, 2nd ser., 30 (1884), p. 287, as autograph throughout.

Max Rooses. L'Oeuvre de P. P. Rubens. 1, Antwerp, 1886, p. 309, no. 235, as an autograph repetition of the Windsor picture.

Illustrated Catalogue of the Sixth Series of 100 Paintings by Old Masters of the Dutch, Flemish, Italian, French, and English Schools. Paris, 1900, p. 42, no. 32, ill. opp. p. 42.

Max Rooses. Rubens. London, 1904, vol. 1, p. 228 [French ed., "Rubens, sa vie et ses oeuvres," (1900–1903)], as entirely by Rubens, from about 1618.

Adolf Rosenberg. P. P. Rubens, des Meisters Gemälde. 1st ed. Stuttgart, 1905, p. 484, ill. p. 380 [4th ed. by Rudolf Oldenbourg, 1921, p. 466], as an autograph work of about 1635–36; calls the Windsor picture a copy by a pupil.

Edward Dillon. Rubens. London, [1909], p. 168, believes Rooses's [see Ref. 1904] date of 1618 to be "far too early," but suggests it is not so late as Rosenberg's [see Ref. 1905] proposed date of 1635–36.

Max Rooses. "Œuvre de Rubens: Addenda et corrigenda." Bulletin-Rubens 5 (1910), p. 184, calls it the original work of which the Windsor version is a repetition.

Wilhelm R. Valentiner. The Art of the Low Countries. English ed. Garden City, N.Y., 1914, pp. 194, 237, dates it about 1635–40, and regards it as partially by pupils.

Algernon Graves. "Reynolds to Z." Art Sales from Early in the Eighteenth Century to Early in the Twentieth Century. 3, London, 1921, pp. 120–21.

Rudolf Oldenbourg. P. P. Rubens, des Meisters Gemälde. 4th ed. [1st ed. 1905]. Stuttgart, 1921, p. 466 [1st ed. by Adolf Rosenberg, 1905, p. 484, ill. p. 380], considers it further removed from Rubens than the version in Windsor, which he describes as by a pupil.

Rudolf Oldenbourg. Peter Paul Rubens. Munich, 1922, pp. 163–64, fig. 96, as a follower's adaptation of Rubens's design, which is recorded by the Windsor picture.

Gustav Glück. Rubens, Van Dyck und ihr Kreis. Vienna, 1933, p. 395, states that no scholars have supported Oldenbourg's attribution [see Ref. 1921] to Boeckhorst.

Gustav Glück. Rubens, Van Dyck und ihr Kreis. Vienna, 1933, p. 166, disagrees with Rosenberg [see Ref. 1905], calling it a copy by a pupil.

C. H. Collins Baker. Catalogue of the Principal Pictures in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. London, 1937, p. 276, as a repetition of the Windsor picture.

Alan Burroughs. Art Criticism from a Laboratory. Boston, 1938, pp. 129–31, figs. 46 (detail), 47, 48 (shadowgraph details), states that the underpainting revealed by radiography does not suggest Rubens's authorship, and suggests Theodore van Thulden as the painter.

Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Loan Exhibition of Forty-three Paintings by Rubens and Twenty-five Paintings by Van Dyck. Exh. cat., Los Angeles County Museum. Los Angeles, 1946, unpaginated, under no. 29, states that the MMA, Windsor, and San Diego versions were all executed with the assistance of pupils.

W. R. Valentiner. "Rubens' Paintings in America." Art Quarterly 9 (Spring 1946), p. 164, no. 99, as executed with the assistance of pupils; dates it about 1625–26.

Julia Gethman Andrews. A Catalogue of European Paintings, 1300–1870. San Diego, 1947, p. 113.

Jan-Albert Goris and Julius S. Held. Rubens in America. New York, 1947, pp. 33, 50, no. 48, pl. 47, suggest that Rubens "took a considerable part" in its execution, and date it to the 1630s.

Paul Bird. "Rubens Presented in First New York Show." Art Digest 25 (March 1, 1951), p. 7, ill.

Ludwig Burchard. A Loan Exhibition of Rubens. Exh. cat., Wildenstein & Co., Inc. New York, 1951, p. 21, no. 21, ill. p. 43, as an autograph work of about 1628; calls it the earliest version.

Erik Larsen. P. P. Rubens. Antwerp, 1952, p. 218, no. 76, as "the only one of several existing variants where Rubens's hand is really preponderant"; dates it about 1628–30.

Winter Exhibition: Flemish Art 1300–1700. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts. London, 1953, p. 58, under no. 170.

John Jacob. "The Liverpool Rubens and Other Related Pictures." Liverpool Bulletin 9 (1960–61), p. 14.

Oil Sketches and Smaller Pictures by Sir Peter Paul Rubens. Exh. cat., Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd. London, 1961, p. 26, under no. 30.

Sylvia Hochfield. "Conservation: The Need is Urgent." Art News 75 (February 1976), p. 27.

P. P. Rubens: Paintings—Oilsketches—Drawings. Exh. cat., Royal Museum of Fine Arts. Antwerp, 1977, p. 231, no. 99, ill., notes that the style "points to a date in the 1630s and indicates that Rubens had at least a considerable hand in it".

Didier Bodart. Rubens e l'incisione nelle collezioni del Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe. Exh. cat., Villa della Farnesina. Rome, 1977, p. 45, under no. 63.

Michael Jaffé. "Exhibitions for the Rubens Year—I." Burlington Magazine 119 (September 1977), p. 624.

Oliver Millar. Letter to Martha Wolff. July 10, 1979, as of "fine autograph quality throughout, with the exception perhaps of the figure of Saint Joseph".

Julius S. Held. The Oil Sketches of Peter Paul Rubens. Princeton, 1980, vol. 1, p. 506, under no. 370, states that it probably dates from the mid-1630s.

Walter A. Liedtke. "Flemish Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum—I: Rubens." Tableau 6 (November/December 1983), pp. 83–86, 88 n. 23, fig. 4 (color).

Walter A. Liedtke. Flemish Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1984, vol. 1, pp. 140–46; vol. 2, colorpl. X, pls. 58–59 (overall and detail), dates it probably during the early to mid-1630s, observing that Rubens may have employed workshop assistants to some extent, but that most of the painting is clearly by him.

Michael Jaffé. Rubens: catalogo completo. Milan, 1989, pp. 300, 327, no. 1047, ill., dates it 1630–35.

Christopher Lloyd. The Queen's Pictures: Royal Collectors through the Centuries. Exh. cat., National Gallery. London, 1991, p. 126, fig. 41, under no. 39.

Introduction by Walter A. Liedtke in Flemish Paintings in America: A Survey of Early Netherlandish and Flemish Paintings in the Public Collections of North America. Antwerp, 1992, pp. 13, 362, no. 414, ill.

Christiane Stukenbrock in Von Bruegel bis Rubens: Das goldene Jahrhundert der flämischen Malerei. Exh. cat., Wallraf-Richartz-Museum. Cologne, 1992, p. 354, under no. 44.10.

Agnew's 1993 Catalogue. Exh. cat., Agnew's. London, 1993, unpaginated, under no. 2, suggests that the Agnew picture is subsequent to the first painting of the Museum's composition, but precedes its completion.

Peter C. Sutton. The Age of Rubens. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 1993, pp. 291, 293 n. 7, as probably executed with some workshop assistance.

Walter Liedtke. "'Everything is not the same': Style and Expression in Some Religious Paintings by Rubens." Rubens and his Workshop: "The Flight of Lot and his Family from Sodom". Exh. cat., National Museum of Western Art. Tokyo, 1994, pp. 135–39, figs. 6, 8 (x-radiograph).

David Freedberg. Peter Paul Rubens: Oil Paintings and Oil Sketches. Exh. cat., Gagosian Gallery. New York, 1995, pp. 38–40.

Christopher White. The Later Flemish Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen. London, 2007, pp. 194–95, fig. 42, under no. 59.

Görel Cavalli-Björkman in Rubens & Van Dyck. Exh. cat., Nationalmuseum. Stockholm, [2010], p. 250, under no. 67.

Two compositions close to this one are known: a canvas in the Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, and one at Windsor Castle. Their relationship to the MMA picture has been a matter of dispute. The Windsor painting must date from before Rubens's travels of 1628–30, and the San Diego picture is most likely a good studio variant from the 1630s, combining features of both the MMA and Windsor versions. The MMA picture may have been begun in the 1630s as a full-length version of an original state of the picture at Windsor. Having largely, or completely, finished the Museum's painting, Rubens may then have decided to change the figures of Mary and Joseph, and to add the infant Saint John.

An oil sketch in the Galway collection, which has been attributed to Rubens by Jaffé and Held [see Ref. Held 1980] represents a stage in between the original composition of the painting at Windsor and the first state of the present work. A canvas by Rubens at Agnew's [see Ref. Agnew 1993] is based upon this sketch.

Numerous versions of this composition exist, some including the figure of Saint Francis. Paintings that depend on the final state of our picture include a Madonna and Child (Muzeum Narodowe, Warsaw); a Holy Family with Saint Anne and the Infant Saint John (Arnold Seligmann, Rey & Co. sale, Parke Bernet, New York, January 23–24, 1947, no. 269, withdrawn); a Virgin and Child with the Infant Saint John (H. K. L. Hildebrandt sale, Lepke's, Berlin, May 7, 1912, no. 46); a copy of the entire composition (Ferdinand Panciatichi Ximenes d'Aragona collection sale, Galardelli e Mazzoni, Florence, April 3–16, 1902, no. 129, as by Van Dyck); and the painting in San Diego mentioned above.

Smith [see Ref. 1830] tentatively connects the MMA version with one sold at Christie's in 1820. Graves [see Ref. 1921] lists a Rubens of this title as lot 117 of Christie's sale on May 27, 1820, for £204.18 to Lord Carrington. Christie's, however, has no record of the picture being sold on this date. Lord Carrington's version has been thought to be the one today in San Diego.