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Christoffel Jegher
The Garden of Love (after Peter Paul Rubens [1577-1640]

c. 1633-1636

About the Item

The Garden of Love (after Peter Paul Rubens [1577-1640]) Woodcut diptych, c. 1633-1636 Each of the two sheets is signed in the plate lower right A posthumous impression with tiny worm whole in the block. Most proably late 17th century/early 18th century impression. Extremely rare in any impressioon. The MMA impression is missing the right edge of the right sheet from top to bottom (see MMA catalog illustration). A brilliant early impression was in the Laube Collection, Switzerland. That is the best impression that I have seen to date. Most impressions have condition issue like this pair of sheets. The diptych is illustrated as the cover illustration for both the MMA Bulletin and the Courtald Collection Rubens catalog (see photos of both). It is discussed and illustrated in each catalog as well. The composition is thought to be a number of of Rubens and hiw wife in various leisure activities. Impressions are in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Courtauld Gallery, London and the National Gallery of Art. The garden represents Paradise, but also fertility. This painting is an allegory and exaltation of love and marriage, as well as the merry company. Provenance: Swedish Royal Family References And Exhibitions: Fitzwilliam Museum, Rubens and Printmaking (Cambridge, England: Fitzwilliam Museum, 1990), nos. 36, 37, pp. 25-26, reproduced p. 26; detail reproduced in color on cover. Courtauld Institute, Rubens Paintings, Drawings, Prints in the Princes Gate Collection Courtault Institute Galleries (London: University of London, 1988), no. 55, p. 48, reproduced; detail reproduced title page. Mary L. Myers, "Rubens and the Woodcuts of Christoffel Jegher," The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin XXV, Number I (Summer, 1966), pp. 7-23, reproduced pp. 18-19, figures 19-20. F. W. H. Hollstein, Dutch and Flemish Etchings, Engravings and Woodcuts 1450-1700 (Amsterdam: , 1949-2003), 17 A&B. "Having realized the potential profits to be made from reproductive prints of his work, Rubens began to engage printmakers from 1619 onward. In the early 1630s, he turned to woodcuts in close collaboration with Christoffel Jegher. Indeed, Jegher's place in art history as the most important woodcutter of his time rests exclusively on the nine large single-page woodcuts that resulted from this collaboration. The Garden of Love is a variation of a picture by Rubens from the 1630s (Museo del Prado, Madrid). Two drawings by Rubens (finished by Jegher; see 58.96.1,.2) served as models. The woodcuts reproduce these drawings in reverse. The drawings, and consequently the prints, transform the composition of the painting into a frieze, most notably by dividing it into two separate parts, pushing the figures to the foreground and cropping the architecture at the top. The inherent nature of the coarse woodcut medium and the effect that could be achieved with it were fully exploited, particularly in the rendering of the human form." Courtesy MMA "Christoffel Jegher produced several large-scale woodcuts in collaboration with the Flemish painter and diplomat Peter Paul Rubens, of which this two-sheet print is the largest. The panoramic garden setting includes delights such as a group of musical enthusiasts perched on plush chairs and colonnaded ledges on the left; on the right is a fountain grotto with decorative streams of water into which the most boisterous men try to cajole their lovers. The unsure woman on the far right, her waist firmly grasped by a smooth-talking admirer, resists the necessary push into temptation from a determined, winged Eros. Rubens was deeply involved in producing prints after his paintings, of which the most illustrious were woodcuts created from about 1632 to 1636 by Christoffel Jegher. The most ambitious of these large woodcuts is the Garden of Love, a composition inspired by the painting of this subject (now at Waddeson Manor, Buckinghamshire), dated around 1630/31. Rather than an exact reproduction of the painting, the composition was redrawn with variations by Rubens on a separate sheet as a model for the woodcut artist to follow; it was then printed by Jeghers on two nearly equal-sized sheets that function as self-contained works. Belonging to the tradition of Medieval love gardens, the right half contains portraits of Rubens and his radiant young wife, Helena Fourment, who is echoed in almost all the female faces." Courtesy AIC
  • Creator:
    Christoffel Jegher (1596-1652/3, Dutch)
  • Creation Year:
    c. 1633-1636
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 18.25 in (46.36 cm)Width: 23.25 in (59.06 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    Fairlawn, OH
  • Reference Number:
    Seller: FA1849A-B1stDibs: LU14014716322

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