Beskrivning: I det sägenomspunna verket Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, utgivet i Venedig 1499, beskrivs bl.a. kärleksgudinnans trädgård belägen på ön Kythera. Denna skildring inspirerade senare såväl Tizian som Watteau. När den förre återgav Venus trädgård, här i form av en fri kopia utförd av Rubens, anar man inte att grönskan byggde på en avancerad geometri. Allt är dolt av en mängd bevingade putti, som plockar äpplen för att ära kärleksgudinnan.

Res. Katalogtext: Se även beskrivning i den engelska versionen

Description: The legendary book Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, published in Venice in 1499, includes a description of the garden of the goddess of love on Kythira Island. This depiction later inspired Titian and Watteau. When the former portrayed Venus’ garden, here as a free copy by Rubens, it is not apparent that the vegetation was based on advanced geometry. It is all hidden by a multitude of winged putti, who are picking apples to honour the goddess of love.

Catalogue raisonné: Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 150:

Technical notes: The painting’s original support
consists of a single piece of plain (or tabby) weave fabric
of exceptional width, with the warp aligned horizontally.
No seams are visible on the surface of the painting, nor
in the X-radiograph. The fabric (probably linen) has a
high average density per cm2 of 20 threads in the warp
and in the weft, resulting in a fine texture. The slight
irregularities of the threads are characteristic of handwoven
manufacture. The support was subsequently gluelined
in 1868, and the tacking edges of the original canvas
support trimmed off on all sides. No cusping is visible
along the edges. A small piece of the original support
is missing at the upper right corner. The thread density
and weave characteristics of the painting’s original fabric
support suggest that it was probably cut from the same
bolt as that used for the companion piece, no. 151 (see
below), with an original strip-width of c. 210 cm (3 ell).
The preparatory layers consist of a thick, smooth
whiteish ground followed by an opaque, grey imprimatura,
ranging in tone from a dark to a medium grey that
extends to the edges of the support and completely
obscures the canvas texture. As can be seen in X-radiographs,
this layer was applied with both a brush and a
spatula. The cool-grey imprimatura was incorporated as a
mid-tone in the shadows of the flesh tones.
Paint was applied broadly in pastes of varying fluidity
and thickness worked both wet-into-wet and wet-overdry.
As seen in the X-radiograph, the artist made hardly
any changes in the painting. A few minor adjustments of
the contours of individual figures are visible to the naked
eye. The smoothly blended flesh tones, ranging from a
pinkish white to a darker brownish complexion, are built
up in layers, the thinly painted shaded areas applied
either directly over the grey imprimatura, or a translucent
warm red-brown underpaint that partially blocks-in
forms. Fine brushstrokes in brown/red-brown paint
delineate contours, with occasional parallel hatching in
shaded areas; in the faces a dark red glaze is used for
details (nostrils, mouths). The impastoed yellowish white
highlights on the arms, legs and faces of several foreground
putti, were applied over a dry paint surface, suggesting
they were probably reworked by the artist at a
later date: an intermediate thin dark layer (varnish? dirt?)
is visible in a paint cross-section taken from a putto on
the lower right. The intense blue sky, probably lapis
lazuli ultramarine admixed with lead white, is applied
thinly over a cream underpaint, with strong impastos and
vigorous brushwork in the whites and bright yellows
(lead-tin yellow?) of the clouds. The central trees were
painted partly over the grey imprimatura, partly over
their red-brown blocked-in forms, before the sky was
painted around them and the details of leaves and
branches elaborated over the edges of the sky paint. A
putto at upper left was executed before the foliage that
slightly overlaps the contours. The foliage greens are
probably based largely on a mixture of blue mineral azurite,
yellow lakes and earth pigments; the presence of a
oxydized copper green was also noted. The final touches,
white and yellow lights on the foliage and tree trunks,
the apples’ reds and yellows, were added with great freedom
and immediacy. The painting underwent conservation
treatment in 1868, 1933, 1937, 1977, 1987 and 2009.

Provenance: Peter Paul Rubens, Antwerp, until 1640
(inv. 1640, no. 81: “Une piece des Cupidons s’esbatans,
prise de Philostrate”); by purchase c. 1640/1645 to Philip
IV of Spain; Carlos II; King Carlos III, Palacio Nuevo,
Madrid (Ponz 1776, VI, Del Alcázar, 57; inv.1814).
Acquired after 1814 by Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, King of
Sweden and Norway as Karl XIV Johan in 1818, and his
spouse, Eugénie Bernardine Desirée Bernadotte, Stockholm;
Oscar I, Royal Palace, Stockholm ; bequeathed by
Karl XV to the KM in 1865; KM 1861/1867, no. 1386.

Exhibited: Stockholm 1945, no. 92; Stockholm 1977,
no. 4; Stockholm 1987, no. 4; Madrid 1987, no. 4;
Munich 2009, no. 16; Stockholm 2010, no. 15.

Bibliography: Sander IV, p. 161, no. 1386; Sainsbury
1859, p. 238; Cruzada Villaamil 1874, p. 324; Göthe
1880; Göthe 1887, p. 223; Göthe 1893, p. 275; Göthe
1900, p. 285; Granberg 1912, p. 94, no. 338; Roosval,
1915, p. 11ff; Denucé 1932, p. 60; Glück 1933, p. 303f,
319, 411; Nordenfalk 1938, pp. 40–47; Evers 1943, p.
317; Norris, , 1951, p. 25; Walker 1956, pp. 83–92,
113–14, figs. 40, 41; Bottineau 1956, p. 322; NM Cat.
1958, p. 174–175; Gerson and Ter Kuile 1960, p. 100,
188, no. 128; Fehl 1972, pp. 159–162; Wethey
1969–1975, III, pp. 146 no.13, 151 no.15, 152; Glang-
Süberkrüb 1975, p. 67f; Cavalli-Björkman 1977, pp.
13–29; Held 1982, pp. 312–315; Glang-Süberkrüb 1985,
pp. 125–126; Filipczak 1987 p. 63; Belkin 1987, pp.
143–152; Cavalli-Björkman 1987 a, pp. 93–106; Cavalli-
Björkman 1987b, pp. 53–60; Fehl 1987, pp. 107–119;
Müller 1987, pp. 75–80; Rosand 1987, pp. 86–90; Perez-
Sanchez 1987, p. 94; White 1987, pp. 219–220; Müller
1989, p. 111, no. 81; Pochat 1989, pp. 63–66; NM Cat.
1990, p. 315; Bjurström 1992, p. 132; Sutton 1993, p. 40;
Von Simson 1996, p. 381; Vergara 1999, p. 146, 151, fig.
64; Van Hout 2001, pp. 16–17; Muller (in Belkin and
Healy 2004), pp. 27–28; Rosenthal 2005, p. 94; Cavalli-
Björkman 2009, pp. 237–246; Baumstark 2009, pp.
104–107; Wood 2009, pp. 75–77; Cavalli-Björkman in
Stockholm 2010, pp. 29–38.

Rubens’ two paintings The Worship of Venus and The
Andrians have an interesting and rather complicated
history. They were among the paintings remaining in
Rubens’ estate and after his death 1640 they were
bought by the king of Spain Philip IV for 1,800
florins.1 The king had known the painter personally
during his lifetime and had made use of his services in
important diplomatic affairs and continually commissioned
paintings from him. It is hardly surprising that
these two paintings were particularly important acquisitions
for the king as he already possessed Titian’s
works with the same motifs.

The paintings, which remained in the royal collection
in Spain for the next two centuries, became spoils
of war during Napoleon’s invasion of the country. It
has been assumed that the works were taken to Sweden
by Marshall Jean Baptiste Bernadotte when he
became Sweden’s Crown Prince in 1810. Perez
Sanchez (1987) states, however, that the two Rubens
paintings are still listed in the Spanish inventories as
late as 1814. It therefore seems more reasonable to
assume that they came into the possession of Berna -
dotte on some later occasion. They may have been
taken to Paris by Napoleon’s brother Joseph after
1814 and later brought to Sweden by Bernadotte’s
wife Desirée, who remained in Paris until 1823.2 It is
confirmed, however, that they belonged to Bernadotte
on his death in 1844. They are listed in the inventory
of his estate.3 In 1865 the paintings were donated to
Nationalmuseum by King Karl XV in connection with
the inauguration of the new museum building.
Rubens’ paintings are free copies after two paintings
by Titian originally belonging to a series of paintings
decorating Alfonso d’Este’s studiolo in Ferrara.The
subjects are derived from Philostratos’ Imagines, a series
of rhetorical exercises written in the 3rd century A.D.
Worship of Venus is inspired by a description (Imagines
I:V I) of an enchanted garden in which the cupids,
small winged children taken to be the offspring of
nymphs, indulge in symbolic love play.

“See cupids are gathering apples: and if there are
many of them, do not be surprised /…/ The cupids’
quivers are studded with gold, and golden also are the
darts in them…they have hung their quivers on the
apple trees; and in the grass lie their broidered mantles
/…/ Ah the baskets into which they gather the apples!
What abundance of sardonyx, of emeralds, adorns them,
and the pearls are true pearls; but the workmanship must
be attributed to Hephaestus! But the cupids need no ladders
wrought by him to reach the trees, for aloft they fly
even to where the apples hang /…/ As for the cupids further
away, surrounded by many spectators, they have
come at each other with spirit and are engaged in a sort
of wrestling-match..One has caught his opponent by
lighting on his back, and seizes his throat to choke him,
and grips him with his legs; the other does not yield, but
struggles upright and tries to loosen the hand that
chokes him by bending back one of the fingers till the
others no longer hold or keep their grip. In pain the
cupid whose finger is being bent back bites the ear of his
opponent /…/ And let not the hare yonder escape us,
but let us join the cupids in hunting it down /…/ the
cupids hunt it from place to place and make it dash headlong,
one by clapping his hands, another by screaming,
another by waving his cloth /…/”.4

The two women entering the picture from the right
can be interpreted as the cupids’ mothers mentioned
in the text. They are offering gifts to the love goddess
depicted as a marble statue in the picture. There is a
great deal to suggest that Rubens had read Philostratus
text. In some ways he appears to have elucidated
the substance of the text. He underscores the theme of
fertility by increasing the quantity of fruit in the apple
trees. He has indicated the presence of the goddess
not only by a statue. He has painted her constellation
in the sky, a chariot pulled by two swans. Another significant
detail concerns the idea of combining male
and female cupids. Titian’s children all are boys.
Rubens’ cupid in the right foreground now aims his
arrow toward a girl who is marked by an expression of
playful delight. All the girls in Rubens’s paintings are
depicted without wings. Thereby he has transformed
Titian’s rather general expression of the power of
Venus and her retinue of cupids to arouse love into a
very specific statement of heterosexual love as the natural
bond between men and women. It seems that the
artist first introduced male-female cupids in his Feast
of Venus Verticordia in Vienna. This painting recalls a
passage from Ovid’s Fasti (IV:133–192) describing a
feast during which mothers, brides and prostitutes
together paid tribute to the goddess of love. Rubens
began work on it in the early 1630s, but completed the
picture in 1636.5

In format Rubens’ Worship of Venus is wider than Titian’s.
 The landscape is more open and spacious
and the tree tops less compact. A broad sweep between
the cupids directs our gaze into the distance. The
branches of the trees bend gently down towards the statue
of Venus which seems to have come to life in a terrestrial
sense. Nature has vanquished classical antiquity.
The Worship of Venus and The Bacchanal at Andros are
described in the inventory of Rubens’ estate as “originals”
after Philostratos. The two paintings are indeed
masterworks in their own right, glowing with brilliant
colour and energy of touch. Like many of the pictures
that Rubens painted between 1630 and 1640 they were
inspired by Titian’s painting technique. At this time he
had brought home all the full-scale copies he had
painted after Titian’s pictures in Madrid and London.
His own pictures began to resemble Titian’s bold late
style of painting, in which the colours, above all those
used for flesh, became more unified.6
The dating of the Nationalmuseum paintings has
been discussed repeatedly by art historians. Rubens may
have seen Titian’s originals during one of his two visits
to Rome in 1601–1602 and 1605–1608 when they were
exhibited in the Aldobrandini Palace. The sources tell
us that he visited Spain 1628–1629 but not after 1638
when Titian’s paintings had come into the hands of
Philip IV. For stylistic reasons, the two paintings must
however have been made in the 1630s when his painting
style was distinguished by thick, sweeping brushstrokes
and copious colouring. Suggestions vary from
around 1630 to 1638, though on the basis of style a later
date, between 1635 and 1638, seems more plausible. A
distinctive characteristic from this period is that Rubens
painted rather directly on the canvas without underpainting.
X-ray photographs of the two Bacchanals
show that there is practically no trace of alterations.
Both paintings are to be regarded as large-scale
sketches, fresh and immediate in their depiction of the
subject.

There has been a good deal of debate concerning
how and when Rubens renewed his contact with Titian’s
two originals. Nordenfalk (1938) and Belkin
(1987) believed that Rubens in Antwerp had access to
other large-scale copies not known today – possibly by
Van Dyck.
Held (1982a) also assumes that Rubens worked
from copies which he meant could account for the
many small deviations. The great and original quality
of the paintings suggests the possibility that he had
saved colour sketches of his own.7 Worth mentioning
is, however, that Titian’s originals are from his youth
while Rubens’ two Bacchanals reflect Titian’s late style
of painting.8
GCB

1 They were among 32 paintings bought from the estate, fifteen works by
Rubens and the rest by other artists. Eight of the Rubens paintings
bought by the king were copies after Titian. See Vergara pp. 145–146,
150; See also Müller 1989, p. 111, n. 1–2.
2 An interesting comparison in this context can be found in the painting
depicting St. Jerome by Van Dyck, which also came from Rubens’ collection
and was acquired after his death by Philip IV, later to be seized by
Joseph Bonaparte,who in his turn gave it to Marshall Soult.
3 No earlier inventories of his art collections are known.
4 An extract from Philostratus text quoted from A. Fairbanks, Philostratus
imagines, Callistratus descriptions. Heinemann, London 1931, book I, 6.
5 See Cavalli-Björkman 1977a, pp. 108–109.
6 See H. von Sonnenburg ”Rubens Bildaufbau und Technik, II, Farbe und
uftraugstechnik” in Rubens, gesammelte Aufsätze zur Technik, Bayerische
Staatsgemäldesammlungen München, Abteilung für Restaurierung
und naturwissenschaftliche Untersuchungen, Doerner-Institut,
Mitteilungen 3, 1979, p. 27.
7 For the different theories on the dates of Rubens’ paintings see Cavalli-
Björkman, 1987 a. and 1987b, p. 94. See also Pochat 1989, (a review of
the symposium publication).
8 See Baumstark 2009, p. 105. [END]

Utställningstext: En mängd bevingade barngestalter, putti, plockar äpplen för att ära kärleksgudinnan Venus, som är avbildad som staty. Bredvid henne finns två kvinnliga naturgudomligheter, nymfer. Detta är en fri kopia efter en målning av renässansmästaren Tizian (i Pradomuseet i Madrid), som Rubens beundrade. Men Rubens version har mer liv och rörelse och är målad i varmare toner. Hela bilden är som en sprakande hyllning till kärleken.

Offer till Venus