|
|
| Artist | Attributed to after Rubens, Peter Paul (Flemish painter and draftsman, 1577-1640) |
| Previous attributions | Previously attributed to manner of Rubens, Peter Paul (Flemish painter and draftsman, 1577-1640) Previously attributed to French School |
| Title | Child Seated on a Red Cushion |
| Date earliest | about 1600 |
| Date latest | about 1750 |
| Material | oil on canvas |
| Measurements | 65.2 x 51.3 cm |
| Description | This painting was copied from an image attributed to Rubens, so dates either from the seventeenth or the eighteenth century. At that time religious imagery included penitential saints, martyrdoms and the Church Triumphant, as well as many pictures depicting the Virgin and Child (whilst Protestant Reformers questioned her place and status). Here the Child is on his own, but there is no doubt as to his identity, his right arm raised in a blessing gesture. Moreover the background evokes an ethereal world, as the child appears to be floating in Heaven. |
| Subject | religion (Christ Child) |
| Collection | Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle |
| Current accession number | B.M.481 |
| Previous accession number(s) | No. 554; no 18 |
| Acquisition details | Bequeathed by the founders John and Joséphine Bowes 1885. |
| Notes | This used to be no. 554 in John Bowes' catalogue (as 'French School', under the title Portrait of a Child seated on a red Cushion), and no. 18 in the MS List (rue de Berlin), as 'Genre de Rubens'. The Rubens picture B.M.481 is copied from is reproduced in Hubala, E., 'Eine Rubens-Paraphrase von Baroccis Jesuskind für Papst Clemens VIII Aldobrandini', Nationalmuseum Bulletin, Stockholm, 1993, Vol. 17, no. 2, p. 31, under the title Segnendes Jesuskind. Research into Rubens' representation of the Christ Child also shows some similarities with B.M.481; see for instance Jesus represented as a chubby blond little boy in The Christ Child, St John and Angels (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna). Measurements taken July 2006. |
| Rights status | The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, Co. Durham |
| Author | Dr Maylis Hopewell-Curie |
