Unknown artist of the 18th century

Lot 2578 limit € 1.200

Oil/canvas, relined, The Love Garden, reduced copy based on the original by Peter Paul Rubens from 1632 (Museo del Prado), wide gilded Empire frame, signs of age, approx. 51 x 72 cm, with frame approx. 70 x 92 cm ; Rubens intended the painting The Love Garden, which incidentally is not a commissioned work, for his own private use, thus commemorating the happiness of his marriage to his second wife, Helene Fourment. Although his wife was more than 30 years younger than him, the marriage is said to have been extremely harmonious. Various forms of love are depicted in the painting - tender approach, ecstatic and level-headed love, motherly love through to marital bliss.