Rubens His Wife Helena Fourment and Their Son Frans

Peter Paul Rubens

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Keywords: RubensWifeHelenaFourmentFrans

Work Overview

Rubens, His Wife Helena Fourment, and Their Son Frans
Peter Paul Rubens
Date: c.1639
Style: Baroque
Genre: self-portrait
Media: Oil on wood
Dimensions: 158.1 x 203.8 cm
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met), New York City, NY, US


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.
Rubens married his second wife, the beautiful 16-year-old Helene Fourment, in 1630, when he was 53. This painting celebrates their marriage, and the luminosity of the colours and the ebullient presentation of the figures makes this one of Rubens's most magnificent achievements. He has related his marriage to the theme of the Garden of Love; the fountain, the trellis, and the caryatid are symbols of fertility. The warm, intimate expression of the painter and the gentle caress of his hand attest to his love for Helena.


This magnificent portrait shows the artist with his second wife and one of their five children strolling in a "Garden of Love." The child wears male attire and must be Frans (1633–1678). He appears without his older sister because the picture is not a family portrait but an homage to Helena as wife and mother, one of whose most important attributes was providing her husband with a son. The gestures and glances of both male figures and symbols of fecundity such as the fountain and caryatid pay tribute to Helena, who has the innocence and serenity of a female saint.