User:Lrsteele103/sandbox/Honeysuckle Bower
Painting by Peter Paul Rubens / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Honeysuckle Bower or Self-Portrait with Isabella Brant is a self-portrait of the Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens and his first wife Isabella Brant, created c. 1609. The couple is seated in fine clothes within a garden composition and a vine of honeysuckle is placed overhead. The symbolism of the double-portrait alludes to meanings of love and marriage, such as the holding of right hands (dextrarum iunctio), and the concept of the garden of love.[1][2] The pose of the two figures and their fine clothing signify self-fashioning by Rubens.[2] They wed in 1609, the same year that work was created; it was ultimately given to Isabella’s father Jan Brant and would later end up in the collection of Johann Wilhem II of Düsseldorf.[2][3] The couple would be married for seventeen years, and have three children before Isabella died in 1625.[4] Her death would have a profound impact on Rubens and through his loss he created an posthumous portrait. [5]
The Honeysuckle Bower | |
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Artist | Peter Paul Rubens |
Year | c. 1609 |
Medium | Oil on canvas |
Dimensions | 178 cm × 136.5 cm (70 in × 53.7 in) |
Location | Alte Pinakothek, Munich |