Portrait of Helena Fourment

Peter Paul Rubens

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Keywords: PortraitHelenaFourment

Work Overview

Portrait of Helena Fourment
Peter Paul Rubens
Date: c.1630
Style: Baroque
Genre: portrait
Media: oil, canvas
Location: Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium


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.


Helena Fourment was the youngest child of Daniël I Fourment, a wealthy Antwerp silk and carpet merchant, and Clara Stappaerts. After his death, Daniel left to his son (Daniel II) an important collection of carpets of Oudenaarde, Brussels, and Antwerp and 35 paintings of his son-in-law, a large painting of Jordaens and several works of Italian masters.[1] They had four sons and seven daughters. Helena Fourment was buried together with her first husband, children and parents in the Saint James' church, Antwerp. Most of her sisters married into important families.