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Charlotte Mason Picture Study Aid Peter Paul Rubens

Rubens, His Wife Helena Fourment, and Their Son Frans

c. 1635
oil on wood
203.8 cm x 158.1 cm
Metropolitan Museum of Art

KEY TOPICS:
• The subject is Rubens, his second wife, Helena Fourment, and a child who is thought to be

their son, Frans. The setting is a garden.
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• Speculation has risen over the years about the child who many thought to be the Rubens’

oldest child, a daughter named Clara Joanna, because it is the only child in the scene.

However, costume experts, who are often able to date paintings and identify figures based
on their clothing alone, have come to the conclusion that the child is a boy due to the collar

and sash (or baldric) he is wearing which echo his father’s clothing and were common for

boys to wear at the time.
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• In the upper-right of the painting is a parrot (symbolizing Mary and purity in reference to

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Helena) on a rosebush above a fountain. To the left of the figures and slightly behind
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Rubens’ hat is a statue in the Greek style known as a caryatid. These were often used as
decorative pillars supporting the entablature (comprising the architrave, frieze, and cornice)
of Greek temples.

8 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

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