The Three Graces with a Basket of Roses
Artist/Maker
DatesMade: Made ca 1620 - 1625
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 111 x 64 cm h x w x d: Ram 135 x 90 x 13 cm
Inventory numberNM 601
AcqusitionTransferred 1866 from Kongl. Museum
Other titlesTitle (sv): De tre gracerna Title (en): The Three Graces with a Basket of Roses Label (en): The Three Graces
DescriptionDescription: The Three Graces of Greek mythology were the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome. They bestowed beauty and pleasure on gods and men, and were often depicted in the entourage of Venus, Mercury, and Apollo. They were a frequent motif in art, to which Rubens returned on several occasions. Here they are united in a dance, lifting high a flower basket. The forms and movement of the female bodies are in focus, their naked skin as if warm and alive. Catalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 154: Technical notes: The painting has been transferred from wood panel to a fabric support. It was originally executed on a three-member oak panel prepared with a white chalk ground, and was transferred to canvas in Paris around 1760. The pattern of vertical cracks in the paint and ground layers (see below) indicates that the original panel consisted of three boards of approximately equal width, varying between c. 18.5–24.0 cm, joined vertically. Extensive repaired losses of the paint and ground layers along the edges, especially the left edge, suggest that the painting was cut down slightly at the time of the transfer. By comparison Rubens’ original composition on wood panel of c. 1620–1624 in Vienna is considerably wider, measuring 119.0 x 99.0 cm . Most of the original ground layers seem to have survived the transfer process. The preparatory layers consist of a thin, smooth, cream-coloured layer, followed by a brush-applied, light grey imprimatura with a “streaky” appearance. Paint was applied fairly thickly in opaque and semitransparent layers, with strong impastos in the Graces’ flesh tones, their strands of hair, the white and the yellow roses. The smoothly blended pale pinkish flesh tones of the Graces were underpainted with a layer of cool light grey, which serves as a base tone in the shaded parts of faces and bodies. The figures and the basket of flowers were clearly executed by different hands. The flower basket seems to have been executed before the figures of the Graces. A layer of heavily discoloured old varnish is present. Retouching covers abrasion and losses of the paint and ground layers along the edges, especially the left edge, and a repaired semi-circular tear in the fabric support at the upper right (in the curtain swag). Coarse retouching also covers losses along four vertical cracks in the paint and ground layers (through the central and left figures), three of which run the full length of the painting and correspond to vertical joins in the original wood support. Scattered smaller retouches visible in ultraviolet fluorescence occur in the upper bodies of the figures, the sky, curtain swag at the upper right, background at the left, and foreground soil around the feet of the figures. The paint layers display a pronounced overall craquelure of a kind usually found in paintings executed on a fabric support. The painting underwent conservation treatment in c. 1760, 1837, 1870, 1871, 1934 and 1988. provenance: Coll. Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie, Venn garn 1768; Gustav III (as Crown Prince); Gustav III, 1792, no. 51; KM 1795, no. 109; KM 1816, no. 755. exhibited: Antwerp 1877, no. 449; Stockholm 1945, no. 93; Stockholm 1977, no. 10; Tokyo travelling exhibition 1988; Punkaharju 1991, p. 154; Stockholm- St. Petersburg 1998, no. 433; Stockholm 2010, no. 10. bibliography: Von Breda 1791, pp. 165–166; Sander II, p. 106, no. 51; Göthe 1887, pp. 224–225; Rooses 1886, no. 614; Göthe 1893, pp. 276–277; Rosenberg 1905, p. 177; Granberg 1912, p. 94, no. 341; Granberg 1931, pp. 8,18, 165–166, no. 165; NM Cat. 1958, p. 176; Cavalli-Björkman 1977, pp. 41–44; Held 1980, p. 328; Ertz 1984, p. 484, no. 317; Hairs 1985, p. 112; NM Cat. 1990, p. 316. Bjurström 1992, p. 30. This painting has been attributed to Rubens’ studio around 1620–1625. We do not know for certain whether an original version was made by Rubens himself. The painting is probably by his best pupils, working under the guidance of the master. The basket of flowers, carried by the three nude women and the landscape, have earlier been attributed to Jan Brueghel I. This can, however, be ruled out, as Ertz 1984 has remarked, due to the lack of precision in the details. An attribution to Jan Brueghel II around 1620 is more probable. Records and inventories show that the Nationalmuseum picture had already arrived in Sweden in the 17th century and was part of the collection of Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie. The picture was originally painted on panel but sent to Paris some time their poses, however. The Vienna-Stockholm composition appears to be Rubens’ earliest exploration of the theme. GCB 1 Oil on panel, 119 x 99. Gemäldegalerie der Akademie der bildenden Künste, Vienna. 2 Oil on canvas 153 x 110. See correspondence and catalogue in the Nationalmuseum Documentation Archive. 3 On The Three Graces, see E. Wind, Pagan Mysteries in the Renaissance, Oxford 1980. 4 The composition of the three women together in a central group is taken from a Hellenistic statue, found in Rome in the 15th century. There is a copy of the sculpture in the cathedral of Siena. [END] The three Graces, some sort of goddesses of joy, were the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome in Greek mythology. They were a common artistic motif and Rubens—one of the Baroque’s most illustrious painters—returned to it several times. Here the Graces lift a basket of flowers in a combined effort. The artist doesn’t, however, concentrate on the mythological narrative but on rendering the shapes and movements of the female bodies. The naked skin appears warm and alive before the viewer’s eyes.
Exhibited
Motif categoryReligion/Mythology
Collection
TechniquePainting
Object category
Keyword