Portrait of Helena Fourment (1614-1673), the Artist’s Second Wife

School of Peter Paul Rubens (1577 - 1640). Portrait of Hélène Fourment, c. 1630/1631. This portrait of his second wife Hélène Fourment is quite different from Rubens' state portraits. In Munich there is a painting of her in which Rubens has depicted her standing. This work from the Rijksmuseum, presumably done in Rubens' atelier, is based on the Munich portrait. Rubens married Hélène when she was 16. He wrote to a friend that after the death of his first wife he had no desire to live a celibate life. He chose someone from the bourgeoisie, rather than a noblewoman, so that 'she would not be ashamed when she saw me taking up the brushes.' Bequest of A. van der Hoop, 1854. On loan from the city of Amsterdam, 1885.