These hidden elements give the portrait of Rubens's second wife an explicit erotic connotation. A full report on this investigation will be published in the catalogue of "Rubens in private".
Hidden elements
The painting "The Fur" was examined in view of the exhibition "Rubens in private" in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The work is a very intimate portrait of Rubens's second wife.
A half-naked Helena Fourment is portrayed in front of an abstract, dark background, wearing only a fur coat and looking the beholder straight in the eye. Researchers of the Universities of Leuven and Antwerp used a mobile X-ray fluorescence scanner to discover a fountain with water cascading from a lion's head and a peeing lad underneath the background to the right. The examination was conducted in view of the exhibition "Rubens in private", which runs from 28 March until 28 June in the Rubens House.
Lust and sexual unification
The hidden elements give the portrait an explicit erotic and amorous connotation. The peeing boy is a metaphor for lust and sexual unification. It also symbolises marriage, fertility and youth.
Rubens wanted to portray his second wife as a woman of flesh and blood, as opposed to a "chaste Venus". Rubens's marriage to Helena caused a rejuvenation of the artist. Possibly Rubens overpainted this motif because he found this detail too risky and too personal. The discovery confirms the suspicion that this painting was originally created for the bedroom, and only intended to be seen by Rubens and his wife.
"The Fur" and "Rubens in Private"
The full report on the examination will be published in the catalogue of the exhibition "Rubens in Private. The master portrays his family". The catalogue is available as of 28 March 2015 in the bookshop of the Rubens House.
"The Fur" is not on display during the "Rubens in Private" exhibition. It is extremely fragile and consists of no less than six different panels that are joined together. This makes proper conservation extremely difficult. That is why "The Fur" is never lent for temporary exhibitions.