by-nc

Helena Fourment

Maker

(artist)
1577-1640

Title

Helena Fourment

Date of Production

(circa) 1630 - 1631

Medium

black, red and white chalk, pen and brown ink, white bodycolour following contours of figure (now darkened) on laid paper, the figure cut around the silhouette and backed, most of this cut away and the whole backed again

Dimensions

Height: 61 cm
Width: 55 cm

Accession Number

D.1978.PG.64

Mode of Acquisition

Count Antoine Seilern, bequest, 1978

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords




Label Text

Having been a widower for four years, Rubens married Helena Fourment, the sixteen-year-old daughter of an Antwerp silk merchant, in December 1630. In this stunning drawing Rubens celebrates the beauty of his young wife as well as his own art. The monumental portrait presents Helena near life size in a splendid costume, however, it also allows an intimate encounter. She is shown lifting or catching her veil, which would have been suspended from the top of her striking headdress. Rubens derived this apparently natural gesture from classical sculpture. The subtlety and variety of the red- and black-chalk marks, alongside graceful touches of white, create a body that seems to vibrate with delicate energy.

Notes

The richly dressed young woman depicted here, holding a prayer book in one hand and drawing back her veil with the other, is Helena Fourment, the daughter of an Antwerp silk merchant, whom Rubens married in December 1630, when she was sixteen and Rubens, a widower, was fifty-three. Rubens shows her near life size, rendered in a delicate combination of subtly handled black, red and white chalks that celebrates both her beauty and his own skill as an artist; without using any further colours, he expertly conveys the colour of her eyes, the blonde of her hair and the rose of her cheeks. He derived her apparently natural gesture of lifting her veil, expressing modesty, from a celebrated classical sculpture, the Venus Pudica (‘modest Venus’). The drawing thus serves both as a portrait of a real, living woman and as an evocation of ideal beauty and marital virtue. The drawing has been altered in two notable ways since its creation. A subsequent owner cut the drawing from its original sheet along the outlines of Helena’s veil, hair and headdress and pasted it down on a new sheet. The join is only noticeable when viewed at close range. The same owner may also have been responsible for retouching certain areas of the drawing in pen and ink, such as the headdress and the outline of Helena’s left iris, presumably in order to emphasise them. Retouching and ‘improving’ drawings in this manner, although frowned upon today, was common practice among collectors before the nineteenth century, and indeed Rubens himself often engaged in it; a drawing by the sixteenth-century Flemish artist Michiel I Coxie which he owned and which is now in The Courtauld Gallery’s collection bears traces of his own retouching. Helena’s lavish and elegant dress not only alludes to the source of her family’s wealth – the silk trade – but also suggests the social distinction Rubens had gained in marrying her. Her striking headdress – a cap with a pompom-topped handle, to which a finely pleated silk mantle was attached – is a huyck, which originated as an all-weather garment in the Netherlands in the sixteenth century but, by the seventeenth century, had become a fashionable accessory. Women wearing huycks sometimes appear in contemporary genre scenes set out of doors, but the presence of a huyck in a portrait is highly unusual. Three years after making this drawing, Rubens painted Helena wearing a huyck in an outdoor setting but never depicted her thus clad again. Surprisingly, one of the very few other portraits of a woman wearing one, a painting attributed to Jacob I van Oost (1601-1671), is also in The Courtauld’s collection.

Provenance

Prince Charles Alexandre de Lorraine (1712-1780); Comte de Cuypers de Rijmenam (1760-1773); Jean Gilles Marie Joseph Schamp d'Aveschoot (1765-1839); his estate sale, Van Regemorter (Ghent), 14-17 September 1840, lot 192; purchased there by Schryver (510 francs); Colnaghi (London); purchased there by Robert Stayner Holford (1808-1892), 30 October 1840 (£100; information from Charles Sebag-Montefiore, letter of 21 March 1993); by descent to Sir George Lindsay Holford (1860-1926); his estate sale, Christie's (London), 17-18 May 1928, lot 3; purchased there by Knoedler (£6,825); E.J. van Wisselingh, Amsterdam (b. 1838), 1932; Francis (Franz) Zatzenstein-Matthiesen (dearler), Berlin; purchased from him by Count Antoine Seilern (1901-1978), August 1934; Princes Gate Bequest, 1978

Exhibition History

Helena's Huyck (Drawings Gallery Pop-Up Display), The Courtauld Gallery, London, 03/04/2015-12/04/2015

Mantegna to Matisse - Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, The Frick Collection, New York, 02/10/2012-27/01/2013

Mantegna to Matisse - Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 14/06/2012-09/09/2012 ...More

Material Evidence, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 30/10/1998-24/01/1999

Rubens - Paintings, Drawings and Prints in the Princes Gate
Collection
, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 06/10/1988-08/01/1989

Mantegna to Cezanne - Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 24/02/1983-19/06/1983

The Princes Gate Collection - Drawings (Selection A), The Courtauld Gallery, London, 17/07/1981-26/01/1982

Rubens drawings and sketches, British Museum, London, 15/07/1977-30/10/1977

Hollandsche en Vlaamsche Schilderkunst der XVIIe eeuw Keuze-Tentoonstelling, E.J. van Wisselingh & Co, Amsterdam, 20/07/1932-20/08/1932

Exhibition of Belgian and Flemish Art 1300-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1927

Catalogue of pictures and other objects of art selected from the collections of Mr. Robert Holford (1808-1892) mainly from Westonbirt in Gloucestershire : winter exhibition, 1921-1922., Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1921-22 ...Less

Literature

Van der Stighelen, Katlijne and Hans Vlieghe, Rubens. Portraits of unidentified and newly identified Sitters painted in Antwerp, CRLB XIX (3), London and Turnhout, 2021
p. 59

van Beneden, Ben, Amy Orrock, and Jennifer Scott. Rubens & Women. Great Britain: Dulwich Picture Gallery, 2023. Exhibition Catalog.

McGrath, Elizabeth, Bert Schepers, Nils Büttner, Gregory Martin, Jeremy Wood, Eveliina Juntunen, Gerlinde Gruber and Fiona Healy, Mythological Subjects. II. Hercules to Olympus, CRLB XI, 2 vols., London, 2022
p. 476 under no. 93 ...More

Watteeuw, Bert, 'Material girl. Helena Fourment wearing a huyck' in 'Undressing Rubens. Fashion and painting in seventeenth-century Antwerp', London and Turnhout 2019 - pp. 183-223
pp. 183, 191, 207, 210-12, 215-16
fig. 1 on p. 183 and fig. 3 on p. 185 (shown displayed in Courtauld Gallery)
dated c. 1630; in file

Rubens in Private. The Master portrays his Family, Ben van Beneden et al. (eds.), Rubenshuis, Antwerp, 2015
p. 175
fig. 19a
author: Watteeuw

Mantegna to Matisse - Master Drawings from The Courtauld Gallery, Frick Collection, New York and Courtauld Gallery, London London 2012-2013
cat. no. 24
ill. on pp. 129, 131 (detail)
dated c. 1630-31; in file

Petherbridge, Deanna, The primacy of drawing: histories and theories of practice, New Haven 2010
p. 132
pl. 83
in file

Peter Paul Rubens: the drawings, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 15 January - 3 April 2005 New York, New Haven, London 2005
pp. 13-14
fig. 10 on p. 13
basically independent study, c. 1630-32; in file

Material Evidence, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1998-1999
fig. 8

Von Bruegel bis Rubens: das goldene Jahrhundert der flämischen Malerei, Wallraf-Richarts Museums, Cologne; Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp; Kunsthistorisches Museums, Vienna, 1992-93, 1992-93
pp. 237, 239
pl. 3 on p. 238
an independent study

d'Hulst, R.A., De Kruisoprichting van Pieter Paul Rubens, Brussels 1992
fig. 16 on p. 39
not explicitly discussed in the text

Rubens - Paintings, Drawings and Prints in the Princes Gate Collection, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1988-1989
cat. no. 40
and pp. 19, 20 under no. 23, 35 under no. 39
ill. on p. 36
dated c. 1630-31; in file

White, Christopher, Review of 'Rubens portraits of identified sitters painted in Antwerp (CRLB) by Hans Vlieghe' in 'Master Drawings', Winter 1989 - pp. 372-74; 27, 4
p. 373
possibly independent study; in file

White, Christopher, Peter Paul Rubens: man and artist, New Haven 1987
p. 242
pl. 260
maybe a preparatory study; p. in file but not image

Vlieghe, Hans, Rubens portraits of identified sitters painted in Antwerp (CRLB), London and New York 1987
no. 100a and p. 102 under no. 100b
fig. 105
preparatory study, c. 1630

Farr, Dennis, 100 Masterpieces from the Courtauld Collections, London: Courtauld Institute Galleries, 1987
p. 144
ill. on p. 145
independent study, dated c. 1630; in file

Charles-Alexandre de Lorraine, gouverneur général des Pays-Bas autrichiens, Biblitohèque royale Albert Ier, Brussels, 1987, 1987
p. 55

Schug, Albert, '"Helenen in jedem Weibe" : Helene Fourment und ein besonderer Porträttypus im Spätwerk von Peter Paul Rubens' in 'Wallraf-Richartz Jahrbuch', 1985-1986 - pp. 119-64; XLVI, XLVII
pp. 126-27
pl. 6 on p. 128
preparatory study, 1638-39; in file

Held, Julius S., Rubens: selected drawings, Oxford 1986 (2nd ed.)
no. 200 and pp. 27, 33
pl. 191
undecided whether independent or preparatory study, c. 1630-32

Mantegna to Cezanne: Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 1983
cat. no. 57
ill. on p. 63

The Princes Gate Collection - Drawings (Selection A), Courtauld Gallery, London, 1981-1982
cat. no. 147
fig. 147 in black and white and pl. XXII in colour

Lemaire, Claudine, 'Histoire du Palais d'Orange-Lorraine de 1750 à 1980' in 'Bulletin Trimestriel du Credit Communal de Belgique', 1981 - pp. 1-115; 135-36
p. 27
as formerly in the possession of Charles de Lorraine; in file

Logan, Anne-Marie S. and Egbert Haverkamp-Begemann, 'Dessins de Rubens', Revue de l'art, 42, 1978, p. 89-99
p. 91

Die Rubenszeichnungen der Albertina: zum 400. Geburtstag, Albertina, Vienna, 1977
p. 124 under no. 53
in file

Logan, Anne-Marie, 'Review: Rubens exhibitions, 1977' in 'Master Drawings', Winter 1977 - pp. 403-17, 470-71; 15, 4
p. 411
in file

Logan, Anne-Marie, Review of 'Risunki Rubensa (Rubens drawings) by J.I. Kuznetsov' in 'Master Drawings', Autumn 1976 - pp. 299-302; 14, 3
p. 300
in file

Kuznetsov, Yuri, Rubens' drawings, Moscow 1974
no. 105
ill.
according to Logan's review, in file; text is in Russian; Christopher White's entry for the forthcoming Flemish catalogue says it is no. 105

Seilern, Count Antoine, Corrigenda and Addenda to the Catalogue of paintings and drawings at 56 Princes Gate, London, London 1971
no. 64
adjusted date to 1630-31; in file

Burchard, Ludwig and R.A. d'Hulst, Rubens drawings, Brussels 1963
I, no. 201 on pp. 322-23
II, pl. 201
in file

Held, Julius S., Rubens: selected drawings, London 1959
no. 114 and pp. 21, 33
pl. 125
says Seilern's dating of 1635-38 is too late so dates c. 1630-32, and is possibly independent but maybe preparatory; in file

Norris, Christopher, and Popham, A.E., 'Review: Count Seilern's Flemish Paintings and Drawings: The Drawings' in 'Burlington Magazine', December 1955 - pp. 396-98, 403; XCVII
p. 398
in file

van Regteren Altena, J.Q., 'Boekbespreking' in 'Oud Holland', 1955; LXX
p. 177
preparatory study, dated c. 1630-31

Seilern, Count Antoine, Flemish paintings & drawings at 56 Princes Gate, London SW 7, London 1955; I
no. 64
pls. CXXI-CXXIV
an independent study, dated c. 1635-38; in file

Delen, A.J.J., Flemish Master Drawings of the 17th century, London 1950
no. 20
ill.
dated c. 1635

Glück, G., 'Rubens' in Thieme-Becker Künstler-Lexikon, 1935; XXIX
p. 144
independent work of art

Hollandsche en Vlaamsche Schilderkunst der XVIIe eeuw Keuze-Tentoonstelling, E.J. van Wisselingh & Co, Amsterdam, 1932
cat. no. 14
pp. 24-26
ill.
in file

Glück, G. and F.M. Haberditzl, Die Handzeichnungen von Peter Paul Rubens, Berlin 1928
no. 234
ill.
dated c. 1638

Christie's (London), Catalogue of the final portion of the collection of important pictures by old masters, chiefly of the Dutch, Flemish, French, Spanish and British schools: the property of the late Sir George Lindsay Holford...., 17-18 May 1928
lot 3
ill.
in file though without the image

Exhibition of Belgian and Flemish Art 1300-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London 1927, 1927
cat. no. 570
pl. CXX

Benson, Robert, The Holford Collection, Westonbirt, privately printed 1924
no. 73
pl. LXVI

Hind, A.M., Vasari Society, 2nd Series, 1922; Part III
no. 8
ill.

Dillon, Edward, Rubens, London 1909
p. 233

Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain, 1854
vol. II, p. 204
in Holford collection: ‘Rubens. A female portrait, animatedly and cleverly conceived, and grandly sketched’ ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: none in the drawing. Support (historic): Recto, left of the figure, visible in raking light: “ST” monogram (Peter Bower does not know the identity of this papermaker; the lettering style would suggest a late 18th-century date).

Inscription: No longer extant, but was recorded by Hind in 1922 (see Braham in London 1988-89): attached beneath drawing, in late 17th or early 18th-century hand: "Helen Fourment, Fille de Daniel et de Claire Stappart, Deuxième Femme du fameux Pierre-Paul Rubens, laquelle épousa en second noce Jean-Baptiste de Brouckhoven, dont ample posterité. Petrus P. Rubens Fecit.".

Stamp: Recorded in 1981 condition report: Mount, Verso: 'Ausfuhr' stamp, if the same as on other drawings in the collection it is a blue export stamp reading 'von der zentralstelle für denkmalschutz zur ausfuhr freigegeben".

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