Vintage Framed Portrait Reproduction P. P. Reubens Portrait of Clara Serena Rubens 13” X 16”

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This is a lovely reproduction portrait of P.P. Rubens daughter, Clara Serena. The total size is 13” x 16” x … Read more This is a lovely reproduction portrait of P.P. Rubens daughter, Clara Serena. The total size is 13” x 16” x 1 3/4”. The size of the painting is 9” x 12”. The painting is old, presented by FIEHL, Made in England. It’s beautifully framed to highlight sweet Clara’s face. This was originally painted in the 1600s, with further information below. Please see condition description below.

Painted around 1616, this likeness of Clara Serena Rubens is among the most touching child portraits in European art history, allowing us an almost uniquely direct encounter with a child. It shows Rubens’s five-year-old daughter from his marriage to Isabella Brant. The child has a clear physical resemblance to her mother. Expressive of the intimate bond between father and daughter, the disarming directness of her gaze is untypical of contemporary portraiture. Rubens makes deliberate use of colour to dramatize her face, with the warm flesh tones standing out against the grey-green tonality of the ground and dress. The child’s ruddy cheeks and the highlights on her nose and brow convey the impression of vigour and life. Cut down on all sides and with the dress treated only sketchily, the painting seems unfinished at first glance. However, in the case of a portrait that was probably intended for private use and not for sale, detailed treatment of these elements was not necessarily a matter of concern. Evidently Rubens simply concentrated on the essence of the depiction, the face of his daughter. See less