MWW Artwork of the Day (3/31/1)Pieter Pauwel Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640) The Artist w/ his wife Isab

MWW Artwork of the Day (3/31/1)
Pieter Pauwel Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640)
The Artist w/ his wife Isabella Brant in the Honeysuckle Bower (c. 1609) 
Oil on canvas, 178 x 136.5 cm.
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Directly after his return from Italy, the 32-year-old Rubens married the 18-year-old Isabella Brant. This double portrait, which broke new ground in portrait painting, was purportedly done shortly thereafter. Rubens did not however give up using traditional symbolism: Honeysuckle was a well known symbol for faithfulness and hands laid over one another (“dextrarum iunctio”) have symbolized matrimony since ancient times. However these references are integrated into this snapshot-like scene in which middle-class contentedness, substantial affluence and strong affection are expressed.

Rubens is one of the featured artists in the MWW gallery:
* Going for Baroque: Flemish Painting in the 17th c.