In this painting a gathering of aristocratic-like lovers are overseen by Venus, goddess of love, beauty and fertility to celebrate his recent wedding. The garden, a common theme in Northern European art is an allegory of the Virgin Mary and motifs within the garden generally include lush foliage and fresh fruit. On the far left a grounded putto, presumably Cupid, pushes the new couple, Rubens and his young bride Helena, into a fairytale-like garden inhabited by a group of people who, like Helena and Rubens, are lavishly dressed in vibrantly colored, texturally rich, ornate costumes. Their faces are supple hues of soft pinks with white to highlight surface quality of the flesh. The viewer is captivated by the typical Rubensesque overt plumpness of each lover giving them a proud bearing and healthy physique. The group forms a diagonal hierarchy across the composition. The viewer follows a spiral pattern of classically-posed figures that have come to life through Rubens’s voluptuously free-flowing brushstrokes, ultimately culminating with a fountain statue of Venus as Rubens references both his quotation of antiquity in the Venus Pudica and an embodiment of the love he feels toward his wife. Two putti continue the spiraling movement to another group of lovers within the architectural archways and stone columns of a Venetian-inspired grotto, overseen by a statue of the Three Graces representing chastity, beauty and love. Beyond the stone structure Rubens paints an ideal countryside and cool colored sky in the distance. The vibrant primary color of the lovers’ costumes and the strength of the composition give clarity and simplicity to what would otherwise be a disorganized scene reminiscent of kermis, or peasant paintings of the Bruegel tradition.
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