Le_Chapeau_de_Paille_by_Peter_Paul_Rubens

''Portrait of Susanna Lunden'' or ''Le Chapeau de Paille'' (''The Straw Hat'') is a painting by

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 tradi ...

, in the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

, London. It was probably painted around 1622–1625. The portrait's subject has not been securely identified, but she may be Susanna Lunden, née Fourment (1599–1628), the older sister of Rubens' future second wife

Helena Fourment Helena Fourment or Hélène Fourment (11 April 1614 – 15 July 1673) was the second wife of Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens. She was the subject of a few portraits by Rubens, and also modeled for other religious and mythological paintings. Fam ...

. If the identification is correct, the portrait probably dates to the time of Susanna's marriage to her second husband, Arnold Lunden, in 1622. The ring on her finger might mean that the painting is a marriage portrait. In the 19th century it was in the collection of Robert Peel at

Drayton Manor Drayton Manor, one of Britain's lost houses, was a British stately home at Drayton Bassett, since its formation in the District of Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. In modern administrative areas, it was first put into Tamworth Poor Law Unio ...

until 1871 when it was sold to the

. Rubens' portrait was engraved in 1823 by Robert Cooper (active 1795–1836). At that time, it acquired the name ''Le Chapeau de Paille'', which incorrectly describes the hat as "straw" (''paille''). A sketch of Rubens' painting (ca. 1823–24) by J. M. W. Turner is in the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

Self-portrait in a Straw Hat by Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrun

In 1781,

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (; 16 April 1755 – 30 March 1842), also known as Madame Le Brun, was a French portrait painter, especially of women, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Her artistic style is generally considered part o ...

and her husband visited

Flanders Flanders (, ; Dutch: ''Vlaanderen'' ) is the Flemish-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to cultu ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, which inspired her to paint '' Self-portrait in a Straw Hat'' (1782), a "free imitation" of Rubens' ''Le Chapeau de Paille''.

References

{{Authority control

Lunden Lunden is a municipality in the district of Dithmarschen, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated on the Eider river, about 16 km north of Heide. It is part of the '' Amt Kirchspielslandgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") of Eider. ...

Paintings by Peter Paul Rubens in the National Gallery, London