Two Sleeping Children|Peter Paul Rubens |Search Collection

Updated 02 April 2026

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On Display

Permanent collection

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.
2025: [Special Exhibition] Emulation and Admiration: Two Stories of Collecting European Art European Master Paintings from The San Diego Museum of Art and The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, the Special Exhibition Wing, 11 March 2025 - 8 June 2025, cat. no. 48

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.
2025: Emulation and Admiration: Two Stories of Collecting European Art: European Master Paintings from The San Diego Museum of Art and The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo (exh. cat.). The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo; Kyoto City Museum of Art (Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum); Nikkei Inc., eds. Tokyo, Nikkei Inc., 2025, pp. 100, 105, 222, cat. no. 48, col. repr.

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