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| Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640). Portrait of Clara Serena Rubens (ca. 1616). Oil on canvas, mounted on panel. 37.3 x 26.9 cm. (14.7 x 10.6 in.). Sammlungen des Fursten von und zu Liechtenstein, Vaduz-Wien. |
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Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi (Italian, 1656-1740). Bust of Anima Dannata (ca. 1705-07). Bronze. H. 39.5 cm (15.6 in.). Sammlungen des Fursten von und zu Liechtenstein, Vaduz-Wien. |
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| Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640). Mars and Rhea Silvia (ca. 1616-17). Oil on canvas. 209 x 272 cm (82.3 x 107.1 in.). Sammlungen des Fursten von und zu Liechtenstein, Vaduz-Wien. |
Royal Academy of Arts to Display Liechtenstein's Princely TreasuresBy STAN PARCHIN
October 2, 2009
The Liechenstein Collection, presented at London's
Royal Academy of Arts from September 25 to December 12, 2010, traces the 500-year history of art collecting by the princely House of Liechtenstein, the Holy Roman Empire's last surviving monarchy whose origins date back to the 12th Century.
The exhibition features: remarkable Italian and German Renaissance paintings; important works by Baroque artist Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640); Dutch and Flemish portraits and cabinet pieces; 19th-century and Beidermeier compositions; sculptures; and bronzes. The last time many of these objects traveled abroad was for the landmark exhibition
Liechtenstein: The Princely Collections at The Metropolitan Museum of Art from October 26, 1985 to May 1, 1986. The New York installation of 218 works was distinguished by Rubens' eight paintings that constitute his
Decius Mus cycle (1616-17) and the royal family's resplendent
Golden Carriage (1738).
Portrait of Clara Serena Rubens
Peter Paul Rubens painted the
Portrait of Clara Serena Rubens (ca. 1616) when his daughter was about five years of age. At first thought to be a likeness of three-year-old Albrecht, her brother, the sitter's resemblance to Isabella Brant, Rubens' first wife, helped scholars to identify the subject as the artist's eldest child. Unlike his official court portraits, the unfinished image (cut down in size at an early date) conveys a sense of tender intimacy shared by a loving father and daughter.
Rubens was known to use children as his models and incorporate their visages into commissions that required angels.
SourceBaumstark, Reinhold, et al.
Liechtenstein: The Princely Collections (exh. cat.). New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1985.
