Two Sleeping Children|Peter Paul Rubens |Search Collection

Updated 03 October 2024

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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.

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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