''The Garden of Love'' is a painting by

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 ...

, produced in around 1633 and now in the

Prado Museum The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

in Madrid. The work was first listed in 1666, when it was hung in the

Royal Palace of Madrid The Royal Palace of Madrid ( es, Palacio Real de Madrid) is the official residence of the Spanish royal family at the city of Madrid, although now used only for state ceremonies. The palace has of floor space and contains 3,418 rooms. It is the ...

, in the Spanish king's bedroom. In early inventories, the painting was called ''The Garden Party.'' It is the apotheosis of the outdoor courtly Merry Company genre painting, and anticipates the French

Fête champêtre A fête champêtre was a form of entertainment in the 18th century, taking the form of a garden party. This form of entertainment was particularly practised by the French court, where in the Gardens of Versailles and elsewhere areas of the park ...

type of the next century. The subject of this piece is common in

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

paintings, which used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, and grandeur. Rubens uses multi-layer allegory and symbolism to his paintings.

Description

In this 6.5 ft x 9.4 ft piece, a large group of well-dressed persons in the style of the 17th century lounge about at the edge of an idyllic garden. Everyone is finely dressed, exercising their wealth and high class status. This demonstrates the depth of a full court scene in a recessional manner. Cupids interact with the individuals, bringing mythological figures into a realistic garden scene to produce a fantastical painting. Rubens

All around the group, symbols of matrimonial love can be found including: the cupids, a pair of doves, flower crowns, music making, and Juno’s peacock. The dogs represent loyalty and fealty. The garden represents Paradise, but also fertility. This painting is an allegory and exaltation of love and marriage, as well as the merry company. In the far-left corner, a male gentleman escorts a woman in all-black towards the entourage. The man is believed to be Rubens, which led to the early identification of this painting to be a self-portrait with friends. The Garden of Love is believed to be celebration of his marriage to Rubens’ wife: Hélène Fourment. Helena Fourment was the second wife of Rubens. She was the subject of a few portraits by Rubens, and modeled for other religious and mythological paintings.

The Fountains

The fountains of the Three Graces and the Venus represent marital happiness. The Three Graces fountains are three

Rubenesque 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 ...

nude females—soft bodied, voluptuous, and highly sexualized beings. These forms emphasize fertility and physical beauty, mirroring the beautiful garden scene. Directly below the Graces, an unsuspecting group of individuals getting sprayed by the fountain.Films Media Group, "Peter Paul Rubens the Garden of Love," 4. The second fountain also depicts a nude female—this time having the nude Venus sitting on the back of a fish and producing a stream of water from her breasts. This is known as the Nursing Venus and is meant to symbolize child bearing and rearing. GARDENS IN THE RUBENS HOUSE - ANTWERP

This full-figured woman is identified by the peacock to be the goddess Juno, who is the goddess of marriage. Rubens plays on recognizable themes that his contemporary audience would recognize.

Influence

Rubens’ merry company was influenced by

Adriaen Brouwer Adriaen Brouwer (, in Oudenaarde – January 1638, in Antwerp) was a Flemish painter active in Flanders and the Dutch Republic in the first half of the 17th century.

, a Baroque Flemish artist, who painted intensely naturalistic merry company genre scenes. While only 60 works of his are known, Brouwer’s work influenced the next generation of Flemish and Dutch genre painters. Brouwer painted atmospheric landscapes, painted with loose brushstrokes—the influence of this style can be seen in Rubens' piece.

References

Bibliography

*Burchard, Wolfgang. "The 'Garden of Love' by Rubens." ''The Burlington Magazine'' 105, no. 727 (1963): 428-426. *Films Media Group and Films for the Humanities. ''Peter Paul Rubens the Garden of Love''. New York, N.Y: Films Media Group, 1985. *Goodman, Elise. "Rubens's Conversatie La Mode: Garden of Leisure, Fashion, and Gallantry." ''The Art Bulletin'' 64, no. 2 (1982): 247-259. * Rose-Marie und Rainer Hagen: ''Bildbetrachtungen – Meisterwerke im Detail'', Benedikt Taschen Verlag, Köln 1994 *Russell, Douglas. "The Problem of Style in Costume Design." ''Educational Theatre Journal'' 20, no. 4 (1968): 545-562. *Volk, Mary Crawford. "Rubens in Madrid and the Decoration of the King's Summer Apartments." ''The Burlington Magazine'' 123, no. 942 (1981): 513-529. *Zeri, Federico, Marco Dolcetta, Elena Mazour, and Raman A. Montanaro. ''Rubens, Garden of Love''. Richmond Hill, Ont: NDE Pub, 1999.

External links

*http://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/online-gallery/on-line-gallery/obra/the-garden-of-love/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Garden of Love, The 1633 paintings Paintings by Peter Paul Rubens in the Museo del Prado Paintings of Cupid