''The Honeysuckle Bower'' is a

self-portrait A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by that artist. Although self-portraits have been made since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid-15th century tha ...

of the

Flemish Baroque painter Flemish Baroque painting refers to the art produced in the Southern Netherlands during Spanish control in the 16th and 17th centuries. The period roughly begins when the Dutch Republic was split from the Habsburg Spain regions to the south with ...

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

and his first wife

Isabella Brant Isabella Brant (or Brandt; 1591 – 15 July 1626) was the first wife of the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens, who painted several portraits of her. Family She was the eldest daughter of Jan Brant, an important city official in Antwerp, and ...

, executed ''c.'' 1609. They wed on 3 October 1609, in

St. Michael's Abbey, Antwerp St Michael's Abbey in Antwerp was a Premonstratensian abbey founded in 1124 by Norbert of Xanten and laid waste during the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1807 a semaphore station was installed in the tower of the church. The buildings were demolis ...

, shortly after he had returned to the city after eight years in Italy. The painting is a full-length double portrait of the couple seated in a bower (wikt) of

honeysuckle Honeysuckles are arching shrubs or twining vines in the genus ''Lonicera'' () of the family Caprifoliaceae, native to northern latitudes in North America and Eurasia. Approximately 180 species of honeysuckle have been identified in both contin ...

. They are surrounded by love and marriage symbolism: the honeysuckle and garden are both traditional symbols of love, and the holding of right hands (''junctio dextrarum'') represents union through marriage. Additionally, Rubens depicts himself as an aristocratic gentleman with his left hand on the hilt of his sword.

Details

Image:Peter Paul Rubens 106.jpg, The couple, close-up Image:Peter Paul Rubens 105-Isabella-crop.jpg, Isabella Brant Image:Peter Paul Rubens 105 1.JPG, The hands

Notes

External links

Web Gallery of Art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Honeysuckle Bower, The Portraits by Peter Paul Rubens Collection of the Alte Pinakothek 1600s paintings Self-portraits 17th-century portraits