Rubens painted numerous portraits of his second wife Hélène Fourment, as well as inserting her into many of his allegorical and Classical images. She was not yet 17, he 53, when they married. She bore him 5 children before his death.
Arte's 'Palettes' video series says of his visual obsession with his young wife that it represented "the glory of the flesh," with Hélène's very real, womanly, dimpled and sensuous body, soft breasts, and creamy pearlescent skin standing in stark contrast to the young Rubens' smooth, bland and utterly unrealistic painting of Eve. Further, the video claims that in these portraits Rubens was taking part in "the tradition of Dianas, Junos, and Venuses...goddesses who fill men with desires and with dreams, sometimes only to have them dashed the more completely."
No comments:
Post a Comment