17th Century Copy After Sir Peter Paul Rubens

James Hope Wallace, Featherstone Castle, Northumberland;
By whose Estate sold, London, Christie's, 31 October 1952, lot 30 (as by Rubens), to Spiller;
With Leonard Koetser, London, 1952;
With Van Diemen-Lilienfeld Galleries, New York, 1952;
There purchased by Mrs. Ralph J. (Mary Elizabeth Borden) Hines, New York;
By whom given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1956 (Inv. no. 56.172).

K. Baetjer, European Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, by artists born in or before 1865, A Summary Catalogue, New York 1980, Vol. I, p. 161, reproduced Vol. III, p. 374 (as a copy after Rubens, probably 18th century);
W.A. Liedtke, Flemish Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1984, Vol. I, p. 229, reproduced Vol. II, p. 98, plate 87 (as a 17th century copy after Rubens, probably from his Studio);
H. Vlieghe, Rubens Portraits of Identified Sitters Painted in Antwerp, London 1987, Part XIX, Vol. II, pp. 82-3, under cat. no. 93; pp. 86-7, cat. no. 93c, reproduced fig. 82 (as a copy after Rubens);
K. Baetjer, European Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, by artists born in or before 1865, A Summary Catalogue, New York 1995, p. 282, reproduced (as a copy after Rubens, Flemish, 17th century).

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This panel has a broad and effective cradle; the surface is flat and the paint layer is stable. The painting is quite dirty, but the work is clearly in very healthy state. There are no restorations visible to the naked eye, but it seems likely that none have been applied in the face and that most areas of the work are in similarly undamaged condition. The work can be hung in its current state, but cleaning would bring more variation to the palette.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This half-length portrait of the Cardinal Infante is based on the large, full-length equestrian portrait by Rubens, now in the Prado, Madrid (oil on canvas, 337.5 by 261 cm.).  Ferdinand was the third son of Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria.  His father planned an ecclesiastical career for him and he was made a cardinal at the age of ten; less than a year later he was named Archbishop of Toledo. Ferdinand was never actually ordained and, in 1631, was appointed by his older brother, Philip IV, to assist his aunt, the Archduchess Isabella, in governing the Netherlands.  In 1634, Ferdinand took part in the Battle of Nördlingen where his army, combined with that of his cousin, Ferdinand III of Hungary, won a great victory over the Protestant armies of Sweden and their German-Protestant allies.  The Prado portrait is generally dated to circa 1635, after the Battle of Nördlingen and around the time of Ferdinand’s triumphal entry into Antwerp as Governor of the Netherlands.  However, based on the fact that the Prado portrait was still in Rubens’s studio at the time of his death in 1640, Hans Vlieghe thinks it more likely that the equestrian portrait was commissioned shortly before that date.¹


1.  See H. Vlieghe, Rubens Portraits of Identified Sitters Painted in Antwerp, London 1987, Part XIX, Vol. II, p. 84, under cat. no. 93.