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https://piction.clevelandart.org/cma/ump.di?e=334289F3CDC58C17221C680423C2549CACC2DF0F2BFF53DE1181A4D1020B451C&s=24247294&se=1250800318&v=3&f=1947.207_o2.jpg

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Jan 18, 2007

Portrait of Isabella Brant

c. 1620–25

Peter Paul Rubens

(Flemish, 1577–1640)

Flanders, 17th century

Oil on wood

Framed: 83 x 73.5 x 9 cm (32 11/16 x 28 15/16 x 3 9/16 in.); Unframed: 53 x 46 cm (20 7/8 x 18 1/8 in.)

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1947.207

Location

212 Baroque Painting and Sculpture

Did you know?

First, Rubens painted Isabella’s face, then at a later date he added hands.

Description

Isabella Brant was Rubens’s first wife. He painted her many times in many different ways before she died at the age of 35 (she is a model for a nymph in the other work by Rubens in this room). This intimate portrait, painted at least five years before her death, suggests the close relationship between the painter and sitter through the warm palette, the luscious brushstrokes, and her lively expression.

Provenance

1947-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

1947

Rosenberg and Stiebel and Pinakos, Inc./Rudolf Heinemann, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) ¹

1930-1947

Heirs of Marcus Kappel, sold to Rosenberg and Stiebel with Pinakos, Inc./Rudolf Heinemann ²

1930

(Kappel estate sale, Paul Cassirer und Hugo Helbing, Berlin, Nov. 25, 1930, no. 16, withdrawn) ³

1919-1930

Estate of Marcus Kappel

1914-1919

Marcus Kappel [1839-1919], Berlin

1914

(Hugh Blaker [1873–1936], Old Isleworth, Middlesex, England, sold to Marcus Kappel ⁴

1914

(Glanusk sale, Sotheby's, London, April 29, 1914, no. 88, sold to Hugh Blaker)

1914

Lord Glanusk

Provenance Footnotes

¹Burchard and Raphael Rosenberg first began corresponding about the Rubens in March 1945, and it seems that Rosenberg and Stiebel made the decision to purchase the painting that month. Saemy Rosenberg mentions a letter of March 27, 1945 in which Raphael Rosenberg writes that Burchard’s “favorable opinion” of the Rubens “encouraged [them] to buy the painting.” Several photographs in the Rubenianum’s file on the painting are marked with annotations stating that the painting was with Rosenberg and Stiebel beginning in November 1945, the month in which the purchase must have taken place. Pinakos, Inc., owned by Rudolf Heinemann, often partnered with Rosenberg and Stiebel in the purchase of paintings. Each firm owned a half-share in the Rubens painting, but because Pinakos is not mentioned in the above correspondence, Rosenberg and Stiebel may have sold the half-share following their initial purchase of the painting in November 1945. In the fall of 1946, CMA director William Milliken and curator Henry Sayles Francis saw the painting at Rosenberg and Stiebel in New York, but at the time, the museum was not in a position to purchase it. In April 1947, Francis writes to Saemy Rosenberg to say that the museum would like to consider the painting, if it was still available, for the collection.

²It is unclear which Kappel heirs inherited the Rubens and ultimately sold it to Rosenberg and Stiebel, whose files apparently do not name the seller of the painting. In a letter to Raphael Rosenberg dated May 28th, 1946, Ludwig Burchard simply states: “after Marcus Kappel’s death, the picture remained in the possession of the family.” A notation on the back of photograph of the Rubens in the files of the Rubenianum reads, “Nov. 1945 in America den Kappel-Erben abgekauft von Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York.” The heir(s) may have been Ellen Rathenau-Ettlinger and/or Ernst Rathenau, Kappel’s grandchildren, who inherited a number of works from their grandfather’s collection. While there is no definitive confirmation that they were in possession of the painting throughout the war, there is also no indication that they were not, and no documentation suggests that the painting was seized by the Nazis.

³An annotation in the Rubenianum's copy of this sale catalogue indicates that the painting was withdrawn because it failed to meet its reserve price: "Limite R[eichs] M[ark] 150.000". Rubens scholar Ludwig Burchard wrote on the back of one of the Rubenianum's file photographs of the Rubens, “Photo Erhalten 27. Febr. 1930 durch Caspari, München.” The role Galerie Caspari played, if any, in the painting’s provenance is unclear. The gallery may have merely supplied the photograph. However, Caspari and Cassirer do appear adjacent to one another in the provenances of several other paintings, and so some transaction involving the painting may have taken place; perhaps the Kappel heirs first consigned the painting to Galerie Caspari, and after it failed to sell, it was consigned to Cassirer/Helbing for sale at auction.

⁴It is not certain whether Blaker acted as owner or dealer in this case, but given that he dealt in Old Masters and had the painting for no more than a year, the latter is more likely.

Citations

Vlieghe, Hans, Ludwig Burchard, and Antoine Seilern. Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard: An Illustrated Catalogue Raisonné of the Work of Peter Paul Rubens Based on the Material Assembled by the Late Dr. Ludwig Burchard in Twenty-Six Parts ; Part 19. London: H. Miller, 1987.

Jaffé, Michael. Rubens: catalogo completo. Milano: Rizzoli, 1989.

Gerald Stiebel, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, March 15, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.

Bert Watteuw, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Nov. 27, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.

Henry Sayles Francis, letter to Saemy Rosenberg, April 9, 1947, in CMA curatorial file.

Gerald Stiebel, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, March 15, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.

Bert Watteuw, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Nov. 27, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.

Bert Watteuw, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, April 13, 2015, in CMA curatorial file.

Bert Watteuw, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, April 23, 2015, in CMA curatorial file.

Walter Feilchenfeldt, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Dec. 12, 2013, in CMA curatorial file.

Bert Watteuw, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Nov. 27, 2014, in CMA curatorial file

Gerald Stiebel, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, June 26, 2013, in CMA curatorial file.

Gerald Stiebel, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Sept. 19, 2013, in CMA curatorial file.

Vlieghe, Hans, Ludwig Burchard, and Antoine Seilern. Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard: An Illustrated Catalogue Raisonné of the Work of Peter Paul Rubens Based on the Material Assembled by the Late Dr. Ludwig Burchard in Twenty-Six Parts; Part 19. London: H. Miller, 1987.

Jaffé, Michael. Rubens: catalogo completo. Milano: Rizzoli, 1989.

Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge (London). Catalogue of Ancient and Modern Pictures and Drawings in Water-Colours and Pastel Comprising Properties from Various Sources and Private Collections, and Including the Property of Lord Glanusk. April 29, 1914.

Glück, Gustav. Rubens, Van Dyck und ihr Kreis. Wien, Austria: Schroll, 1933. Reproduced: p. 95, 385

Gijsen, Marnix, and Julius S. Held. Rubens in America. New York, NY: Pantheon, 1947. Reproduced: p. 26, pl. XI

The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art XXXIV, (December, 1947): 247-249. Mentioned: p. 247-249; Reproduced: p. 245 (cover)

Art Gallery of Toronto. Fifty Paintings by Old Masters. The Art Gallery of Toronto. April 21-May 21, 1950. Toronto, Ontario,1950. Reproduced: no. 40

Bode, Wilhelm von, and Eduard Plietzsch. Die Meister der holländischen und flämischen Malerschulen. Leipzig, Germany: E.A. Seemann, 1951. Reproduced: p. 417; Mentioned: p. 425

Larsen, Erik. P.P. Rubens. Antwerp, Belgium: De Sikkel, 1952. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 148-149

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 442 archive.org

Milliken, William Mathewson. The Cleveland Museum of Art. New York, NY: H.N. Abrams, 1958. Reproduced: p. 40

Held, Julius S. Rubens; Selected Drawings. London, United Kingdom: Phaidon Press, 1959.

Saisselin, Rémy G. Style, Truth, and the Portrait. [Cleveland]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1963. Mentioned and reproduced: Cat. no. 21

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 119 archive.org

Aymar, Gordon Christian. The Art of Portrait Painting; Portraits Through the Centuries As Seen Through the Eyes of a Practicing Portrait Painter. Philadelphia, PA: Chilton Book Co, 1967. Reproduced: p. 129, pl. 62

Cabanne, Pierre. Rubens. London, United Kingdom : Thames & Hudson. 1967. Reproduced: p. 187

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 119 archive.org

Rubens, Peter Paul, and Didier Bodart. Rubens e la pittura fiamminga del Seicento nelle collezioni pubbliche fiorentine = Rubens et la peinture flamande du XVIIème siècle dans les collections publiques florentines : Firenze, Palazzo Pitti, 22. VII-9.X. 1977 : catalogo. Firenze, Italy: Centro Di, 1977. Reproduced: p. 204, no. 85

Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten. P.P. Rubens: Paintings-Oilsketches-Drawings : [Exhibition], 29th June-30th September 1977. Antwerp, Belgium: Royal Museum of Fine Arts, 1977. Reproduced: no. 50

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 154 archive.org

Morse, John D. Old Master Paintings in North America: Over 3000 Masterpieces by 50 Great Artists. New York, NY: Abbeville Press, 1979. Mentioned: p. 244

Catalogue of Paintings. Pt. 3. European paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue Series. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1974. Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 24-28, fig. 10

Heiden, Rüdiger an der. Peter Paul Rubens und die Bildnisse seiner Familie in der Alten Pinakothek. München, Germany: Hirmer, 1982. Mentioned: p. 12; Reproduced: p. 13, pl 6

Larson, Dean M. Studying with the Masters: Lessons from Rubens, Velázquez, Turner, Degas, Monet, Sargent, Matisse. New York, NY: Watson-Guptill Publications, 1986. Reproduced: p. 15

Gemäldegalerie (Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz). Masterworks of the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin: with a history of the collection. New York, NY: Abrams, 1986. Reproduced: p. 198

Burchard, Ludwig. Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard: An Illustrated Catalogue Raisonné of the Work of Peter Paul Rubens Based on the Material Assembled by the Late Dr. Ludwig Burchard in Twenty-Six Parts. 1968. Reproduced: p. 54-55, vol.2

Jaffé, Michael. Rubens: catalogo completo. Milano, Italy: Rizzoli, 1989. Mentioned: p. 264-265; Reproduced: no, 786

Cleveland Museum of Art. Interpretations: Sixty-Five Works from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: no. 18

Masterpieces from East and West. New York, NY: Rizzoli International, 1992. Reproduced: p. 118

Bauman, Guy, and Walter A. Liedtke. Flemish Paintings in America: A Survey of Early Netherlandish and Flemish Paintings in the Public Collections of North America. Antwerp, Belgium: Fonds Mercator, 1992. Reproduced: p. 359, fig. 391

Takahashi, Yūko. Rūbensu = Peter Paul Rubens. Tōkyō, Japan: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1993. Reproduced: p. 36, no. 33

Mallory, Nina A. La pintura flamenca del siglo XVII. Madrid, Spain: Alianza, 1995. Reproduced: p. 136

Dalemans, René, and Peter Paul Rubens. Rubens et son temps. Brussels, Belgium: Editions Artis-Historia, 2000. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 70-71

Jiminez, Jill Berk, and Joanna Banham. Dictionary of Artists' Models. London, United Kingdom: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001. Reproduced: p. 80

Rubens: Lille, Palais Des Beaux-Arts, 6 March-14 June 2004. Gent, Belgium: Snoeck, 2004. Reproduced: p. 128, no. 68; Mentioned: p.130

Schröder,Klaus Albrecht, Heinz Widauer, and Anne-Marie S. Logan. Peter Paul Rubens. Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany: Hatje Cantz, 2004. Reproduced: p. 350, fig. 1

Tijs, Rutger J. De andere Rubens: activiteiten, interesses, leefwereld. Leuven, Belgium: Davidsfonds, 2004. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 216-217

Brejon de Lavergnée, Barbara, Michèle Moyne, and Annie Scottez-De Wambrechies. Catalogue des dessins français du XIXe siècle: collection du Palais des beaux-arts de Lille. Paris, France: Réunion des musées nationaux, 2004. Reproduced: p. 128, 130

Wheelock, Arthur K. Flemish Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. Washington DC: National Gallery of Art, 2005. Reproduced: p. 38, fig. 2

Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Reproduced: 186-187

Treasures of the Cleveland Museum of Art. London, United Kingdom: Scala Books, 2012. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 186-187

Vergara, Alexander, and Friso Lammertse. The Young Van Dyck. London, United Kingdom: Thames & Hudson. 2013. Reproduced: p. 330, fig. 113

Beneden, Ben van, and Nils Büttner. Rubens in Private: The Master Portrays His Family. London, United Kingdom: Thames & Hudson Ltd., 2015.

Cuzin, Jean-Pierre, et. al. Le Saint Joseph Charpentier de Georges de la Tour: Un Don au Louvre de Percy Moore Turner. [Gent]: Snoeck, 2017. Mentioned: p. 225 & 492, n. 2696; p. 230 & 493, n. 2773

Hauspie, Gunter. The Peter Paul Rubens Atlas. Tiel: Lannoo, 2018. Reproduced: p. 87

Dijn, Rosine de. De vrouwen van Rubens. Kalmthout, België: Polis, 2018. Reproduced: p.[9]; color plate section

Lyon, J. Vanessa. Figuring Faith and Female Power in the Art of Rubens. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2020. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 74-75, fig. 1.22

Paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art: Picture Book No. 4 . [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1952. Reproduced: p. 27 archive.org

Exhibition history

Fifty Paintings by Old Masters, Art Gallery of Toronto, April 21- May 21, 1950, no. 40.

Belgium, The Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, 1977: "P.P Rubens: Paintings, Oil Sketches, Drawings," cat. no. 58, repr.

Style, Truth and the Portrait, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Oct. 1- Nov. 10, 1963, no. 21 (repr.) June 29- September 30, 1977.

P. P. Rubens Paintings, Oil Sketches, Drawings, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, 1977, cat. no. 58, illus.

A Tribute to Rubens: 400th anniversary of Peter Paul Rubens' Birth. The Cleveland Museum of Art, May- June 1977. (No catalogue: see label copy.)

Portraiture: The Image of the Individual, November 22, 1983- January 1984, The Cleveland Museum of Art (checklist)

Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille "Rubens": (3/6/2004 - 6/14/2004), exh. cat. no. 68, p. 128,130.
Rubenshuis, Antwerp, Belgium (3/28/2015 - 6/28/2015): "Rubens in Private"

Classic to Baroque: A Style Change in the Arts. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 30-November 13, 1949).

Style, Truth and the Portrait. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 1-November 19, 1963).

Peter Paul Rubens. Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp (organizer) (June 28-October 2, 1977).

Portraiture: The Image of the Individual. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 22, 1983-January 22, 1984).

Rubens. Palais des Beaux Arts de Lille, Lille, France (organizer) (March 6-June 14, 2004).

Rubens in Private. Rubenshuis, Antwerpen, Belgium (organizer) (March 28-June 28, 2015).

The Early Celebrity of Peter Paul Rubens. Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA (April 6-September 2, 2019); Art Gallery of Ontario, Ontario M5T 1G4, Canada (October 5, 2019-January 5, 2020).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Portrait of Isabella Brant|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1947.207|author=Peter Paul Rubens|year=c. 1620–25|access-date=28 September 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Portrait of Isabella Brant

Portrait of Isabella Brant

Peter Paul Rubens

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Provenance Footnotes

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