The National Museum of Western Art

Updated 09 April 2025

On Display Special Exhibition Wing

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On Display

Special Exhibition Wing

Peter Paul Rubens

Siegen, 1577 - Antwerp, 1640

Two Sleeping Children

Date c. 1612-13
Materials and Techniques oil on panel
Size(cm) 50.5 x 65.5
Credit Line Purchased
Standard ref. Jaffé 460
Category Paintings
Collection Number P.1972-0001

The great Peter Paul Rubens was the representative painter of seventeenth-century Flanders (present-day Belgium). The models for this work are thought to have been the children of the artist's elder brother. Presumably a study for a larger oil painting, it shows off the master's swift brushwork and vivid method of depiction, notably in the fleshy cheeks of the children. Ruben's realism is well demonstrated here: capturing his subject matter through skillful application of transparent and opaque colors and effective use of contrasting color tones and paint thicknesses. (Source: Gallery label, July 2016)

Provenance

Brought into the Radziwill family by Princess Louise of Prussia (1770-1836), daughter of Ferdinand of Prussia, as part of her dowry by her marriage to Prince Anton Henri Radziwill (1775-1833), Berlin, 17. 3. 1796; By direct inheritance to Prince Stanislas Radziwill (1866-1920), her great grand son; Princess Dolly Radziwill-Tvede (1886-1966), his widow; Duchess A. de Maillé, her daughter, untill 1972; Purchased by the NMWA, 1973.

Exhibition History

1936
Rubens et son temps, Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, 0 November 1936 - 0 December 1936, cat. no. 91
2013
Rubens: Inspired by Italy and Established in Antwerp, Bunkamura Museum of Art, Tokyo , 9 March 2013 - 21 April 2013, cat. no. 9, col. repr.
2018
Rubens and the Birth of the Baroque, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 16 October 2018 - 20 January 2019, cat. no. 36
2020
Sleeping: Life with Art: From Goya and Rubens to Shiota Chiharu, National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, 25 November 2020 - 23 February 2021, no. 0-1, col. repr.

Bibliography

0
Pontius, Paul. Livre à dessiner. van Avont, P., ed. Antwerpen, n.d. [first half of the 17th century], pl. 13.
1886
Rooses, Max. L'œuvre de P. P. Rubens. vol. 5, Antwerpen, 1886, no. 1229, paragraph 13, pl. 353.
1937
Watt, Alexander. Notes from Paris: the Paris exhibition of Flemish art of the XVIIth century. Apollo. vol. 25, no. 145, January 1937, repr. p. 37.
1974
Bulletin Annuel du Musée National d’Art Occidental. No. 7 (1972), 1974, Nouvelles acquisitions (catalogue). pp. 4-5, col. repr. p. 2.
1975
Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1975 (Japanese), no. 13, col. repr.
1978
Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1978 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 13, col. repr.
1979
The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 250, repr.
1980
Held, Julius S. The Oil Sketches of Peter Paul Rubens: A Critical Catalogue. Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, 1980, vol. 1, pp. 603-606, no. 439, vol. 2, col. pl. 4, pl. 423.
1989
Jaffé, Michael. Rubens: catalogo completo. Mulazzani, Germano, trans. Milano, Rizzoli, 1989, pp. 233, 234, no. 460, repr.
1989
Kobayashi-Sato, Yoriko. Catalogue of Dutch and Flemish Paintings in Japan I. Annual Report Bridgestone Museum of Art & Ishibashi Museum of Art. no. 37 (1988), 1989, pp. 52-53, no. 32, repr.
2006
Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 26, col. repr.
2009
Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 26, col. repr.
2013
Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 38, col. repr.
2013
Rubens: Inspired by Italy and Established in Antwerp(exh. cat.). [Tokyo], Mainichi Newspapers, c2013, cat. no. 9, col. repr.
2018
Kofuku, Akira. Catalogue of Dutch and Flemish Paintings, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. [Tokyo], The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo; The Western Art Foundation, 2018, pp. 75-77, no. 19, col. repr.
2018
Rubens and the Birth of the Baroque (exh. cat.). Lo Bianco, Anna; Watanabe Shinsuke, eds. Tokyo, TBS Television, 2018, pp. 116-117, 290, cat. no. 36, col. repr.
2020
Sleeping: Life with Art—From Goya and Rubens to Shiota Chiharu (exh. cat.). Furutate, Ryo, ed. National Museum of Art, 2020, pp. 26, 174, cat. no. 0-1, col. repr.

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