(Antwerp 1612–1652)
The Garden of Love,
oil on copper laid down on panel, 70.5 x 88.5 cm, framed

We are grateful to Bert Schepers for suggesting the attribution and for his help in compiling the catalogue note.

This colourful painting on copper is derived from one of Peter Paul Rubens’ most successful compositions, the Garden of Love. The subject is discussed at great length by Nils Büttner (see N. Büttner, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, XVII: Genre Scenes, London/Turnhout 2019, pp. 59–143), but the present painting was not known to the author at the time of writing and is apparently unpublished.

The prime version of the subject is the fully autograph large canvas of circa 1630–35 in the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid (inv. no. P001690), whereas a derivative composition has been developed in Rubens’ workshop in the form of a cabinet painting for an international clientele. This studio version is believed to be the work bequeathed to the Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Aylesbury, in 1957 (inv. no. 3541), dated by Büttner to circa 1632–36. Many repetitions of this secondary version are known, attesting to its popularity – Büttner lists more than sixty paintings, drawings and prints. One of these repetitions, documented in Vienna since 1781 and today in the Kunsthistorisches Museum (inv. no. GG679), has in 2016 been attributed by Bert Schepers to Victor Wolfvoet the Younger and/or his Studio (see G. Martin and B. Schepers, ‘Two Antwerp cabinets decorated by Victor Wolfvoet II’, in: The Burlington Magazine, vol. 158, 2016, p. 802; also Büttner, op. cit., pp. 133-134, under no. 3, copy 29). Stylistically the present version on copper relates to the work in Vienna, although it is not as refined, perhaps an indication that this repetition was largely carried out in Wolfvoet’s studio. Though the existence of some beautiful passages certainly suggests that Wolfvoet would have participated to some extent in its realisation.

A large group of well-dressed persons are gathered on a terrace enclosed by a portico. This is built in the late-sixteenth-century Italian style Rubens wrote about in his book Palazzi di Genova of 1622, and which he had used in the design of his own palatial home in Antwerp. The shimmering-coloured clothes and the folds of the company’s dresses are a beautiful feature. Cupids interact with the individuals, bringing mythological figures into a realistic garden scene. Symbols of matrimonial love abound: the cupids, music making, and Juno’s peacock. The Garden of Love has been interpreted as an allegory and exaltation of love and marriage. It clearly demonstrates Rubens’ reverence for Titian, as it is especially close in mood to the Bacchanal of the Andrians (Museo del Prado, Madrid, inv. no. P00418) and the Worship of Venus (Museo del Prado, Madrid, inv. no. P00419). Many features are indeed Titianesque, notably: the coexistence of mythic and real-life characters, the presiding statue of Venus, the flying children, the natural setting and its rich colouring, and the sensuous atmosphere and sexual insinuation.

Certainly, the composition appears to relate to Rubens’ personal life, for one of the women in the gathering, dressed in blue, bears a striking resemblance to Helena Fourment, who was his wife at the time. Following the death of his first wife Isabella Brant in 1626 he married Helene at the end of 1630, when she was sixteen and he fifty-three. From that time on he lived in a state of infatuation.

Victor Wolfvoet the Younger was born in Antwerp in 1612 and later married there in 1639. He only became a member of the Guild of St. Luke in 1644/45, however it is now believed that Wolfvoet, from sometime in the 1630s, must have been active in Rubens’ workshop. In the workshop he would clearly have had access to the master’s oil sketches and drawings, which he used frequently as prototypes for his many copies and derivations of Rubens’ inventions. The cooler and crisper tonality of his paintings however is very different to those of Rubens. Indeed, Wolfvoet freely omitted, changed and added many details to these compositions. His preferred medium would have been copper plates both large and small, which not only allowed for a transparent and brilliant effect, but also enabled easy transportation.