Rubens with his Wife and Child
Rubens enjoyed a high reputation in Great Britain throughout the eighteenth century, and prints after his work were published in large numbers. McArdell's mezzotint of Rubens's own family was the first of two such prints published in London after the charming domestic subject; the other was by Charles Phillips. The large full-length group portrait was first owned by John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722); it then remained in the family through the late nineteenth century and is now in the Met's collection (1981.238). The artist, his wife Helena, and one of their sons appear within an idealized version of the garden at Rubens's mansion in Antwerp, which survives to this day.
Artwork Details
- Title: Rubens with his Wife and Child
- Engraver: James McArdell (Irish, Dublin 1729–1765 London)
- Artist: After Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, Siegen 1577–1640 Antwerp)
- Sitter: Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, Siegen 1577–1640 Antwerp)
- Sitter: Helena Fourment (Flemish, Antwerp 1614–1673 Brussels)
- Sitter: Frans Rubens (Flemish, Antwerp 1633–1678)
- Date: 1740–65
- Medium: Mezzotint; second state of two
- Dimensions: plate: 19 15/16 x 14 1/8 in. (50.6 x 35.9 cm) clipped at bottom
sheet: 20 1/8 x 14 1/4 in. (51.1 x 36.2 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Gift of Georgiana W. Sargent, in memory of John Osborne Sargent, 1924
- Object Number: 24.63.866
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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