Peter Paul RUBENS (Siegen, 1577 - Antwerp, 1640) - Lot 2

Peter Paul RUBENS (Siegen, 1577 - Antwerp, 1640) Battle of the Amazons Canvas 89 cm x 135.5 cm Provenance : Private collection, France (Provence), since the late 20th century. Exhibition : Rubens, A Master in the Making, London, National Gallery, October 26 2005 - January 15 2006, pp. 48-49, no. 4 (notice by David Jaffé). Bibliography: - Catalog of the exhibition Rubens and Brueghel: A working Friendship, Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum and The Hague Mauritshuis, 2006-2007, no. 33; - A.M. Logan, Ruben's Drawings after Julius Held, in Oud Holland, CXX, nos. 3-4, 2007, pp. 160-180; - V. Kopecky, Die Beischriften des Peter Paul Rubens. Uberlegungen zu handschriftlichen Vermerken auf Handzeichnungen, PhD thesis, University of Hamburg, under the supervision of Prf. Dr. Martin Warnke, 2008, I, n. 376, II, fig. 51c, pp. 87-89, 124 ; - F. Villemur, "De l'Air! Les Amazones de Claude Deruet (1588-1660)" in G. Leduc, Réalité et Représentations des Amazones, conference at Université Charles-de-Gaulle, Lille III, 14-16 June 2007, Paris 2008, n° 10, pp. 65-88 ; - K. Lohse Belkin, Copies and Adaptations from Renaissance and later Artists. German and Netherlandish Artists (Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, XXVI.1), London-Turnout, 2009, I, no. 2, pp. 99, 100 ; - D. Jaffé with the participation of G. Tonelli, Ruben's Massacre of the Innocents. The Thomson Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2009, no. 21, pp. 102, 126, 150; - A. Neumeister, Alte Pinakothek: Flämische Malerei, Ostfildern, 2009, p. 282; - J. Wood, Copies And Adaptations From Renaissance and Later Artists. III. Artists working in Central Italy and France (Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, XXVI.2), I-II, London-Turnout, 2011, no. 18, pp. 217, 220 ; - K. Brosens, Subjects from History: The Constantine Series (Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard XIII. 3), London-Turnout, 2011, no. 20, p. 203 ; - M. Daiman, "Peter Paul Rubens: Broker of Peace, Painter of Violence", in Aspects of Violence in Renaissance Europe, Burlington - Aldershot, 2013, pp. 151-184 ; - E. McGrath, G. Martin, F. Healy, B. Schepers, C. Van de Velde, K. de Clippel, Corpus Rubenianum Jacob Burchard, part XI, Mythological Subjects 1. Achilles to Thr Graces, vol. 1, Brussels, 2016, pp.132-140, no. 7 (notice by Bernt Schepers), repr. in color vol. 2, fig. 71 and quoted p. 6. Discovered by David Jaffé in 2005, our painting was the inspiration for the National Gallery's exhibition on the precocious genius of Rubens' early work. Twenty years ago, the importance of our work was praised in numerous reviews (see the Rubenianum bibliography). From an early age, Rubens painted compositions combining dozens of nude and clothed figures in movement, demonstrating an astonishing ambition and precocious virtuosity. Their subjects are drawn from Greek and Roman antiquity. The battle of the Amazons, women equal to men, courageous, beautiful and valiant warriors clad only in colored drapery, against Greek horsemen in armor, was of particular interest to Rubens, as he treated it on several occasions. First in Antwerp, in collaboration with Jan I Brueghel (Potsdam, Schloss Sanssouci, ill. 1) circa 1597-1598, then again when he stayed in Mantua circa 1603-1606, then again in a famous swirling version in 1618 (Munich, Alte Pinakothek, ill. 2). Between the first two early paintings, the composition was completely revised. Instead of a Flemish-style woodland setting, Rubens here opted for a more Italianate landscape, with great attention paid to the interplay of the rising dust above the battle and the sunlight glinting through the clouds. The arched bridge, shifted from right to left, is a gateway into the battlefield, preluding a whole ballet of spears that chop up the background. Like a giant wave, the Greek cavalry surges ashore and down the bridge, crushing everything in its path. Animals and humans form a powerful diagonal that crashes into the foreground, forming a pyramid with a bareheaded Greek rider at its apex. From the top of this pyramid, two horses separate, guiding the eye to the frieze of swirling bodies in the foreground. The foreground is treated like an ancient sarcophagus frieze. [...] WE INVITE YOU TO CONSULT THE FULL DESCRIPTION IN THE PDF CATALOG.