The Garden of Love (left portion)
ca. 1633–35
Medium
Pen, brown ink, brush and gray-green wash over traces of black chalk, touched with indigo, green, yellowish, and white paint
Dimensions
18 1/4 x 27 3/4 in. (46.3 x 70.5 cm) (including added strips at left and right)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Fletcher Fund, 1958
Accession Number
58.96.1
Tags
About this artwork
This drawing represents the left portion of Peter Paul Rubens's celebrated composition "The Garden of Love," originally created as a model for woodcut reproduction around 1633-1635. The work depicts elegantly dressed couples in an elaborate architectural garden setting, engaged in courtly conversation and amorous pursuit. The composition pushes figures dramatically to the foreground while cropping the architecture at the top, creating an immediate frieze-like effect that differs from the origina...
About the Artist
Peter Paul Rubens|Peter Paul Rubens · 1577–1640
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) stands as the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition and the greatest exponent of Baroque painting's dynamism, vitality, and sensuous exuberance. Born in Siegen, Westphalia, and raised in Antwerp, Rubens received a humanist education studying Latin and classical literature before pursuing artistic training under three masters: Tobias Verhaecht, Adam ...