Study for "The Bear Hunt" (for the Alcázar, Madrid)

c. 1639

Peter Paul Rubens

(Flemish, 1577–1640)

Culture

Flanders

Medium

oil on wood

Measurements

Framed: 70.5 x 40.6 x 7.6 cm (27 3/4 x 16 x 3 in.); Unframed: 26 x 53.7 cm (10 1/4 x 21 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1983.69

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Location

213 Dutch Painting

Did You Know?

With just a few quick brushstrokes, Rubens evokes the energy and drama of a ferocious hunt.

Description

On June 22, 1639, King Philip IV of Spain received a letter from his younger brother Ferdinand (1609–1641). The letter explained that the artist Peter Paul Rubens had recently completed all of the sketches for a series of paintings that were to hang in the halls of the Alcázar Palace in Madrid. Bear Hunt is one of seven surviving studies out of the original eighteen. In this scene, a bear attacks a hunter and a companion comes to his aide The others work to stave off a second angry bear. The sketch was completed in the last year Rubens's life, and the paintings for the series were never completed.