Description
On June 22, 1639, King Philip IV of Spain received a letter from his younger brother Ferdinand (1609–1641). The letter explained that the artist Peter Paul Rubens had recently completed all of the sketches for a series of paintings that were to hang in the halls of the Alcázar Palace in Madrid. Bear Hunt is one of seven surviving studies out of the original eighteen. In this scene, a bear attacks a hunter and a companion comes to his aide The others work to stave off a second angry bear. The sketch was completed in the last year Rubens's life, and the paintings for the series were never completed.
Provenance
(Christie's, London, E. Henstridge sale, April 11, 1930, no. 91, sold to Rothschild); (A. G. von Frey [Alexander von Frey]); (Thos. Agnew & Sons, London). (Nov. 12, 1930 - June 10, 1937); G. Huntington Hartford (1911-2008), New York. (June 10, 1937 -); (Newhouse Galleries, New York) (- May 15, 1972); (Thos. Agnew & Sons, London) (May 15, 1972 - Feb. 13, 1973); Private collection; (Thos. Agnew and Sons, London) (1979); Private collection, Portugal. (1980); (Sotheby's, London, sale, June 23, 1983, no. 40, ill.) (1983); (Newhouse Galleries, New York), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art. (1983)
Accession Number
1983.69
Medium
oil on wood
Dimensions
Framed: 70.5 x 40.6 x 7.6 cm (27 3/4 x 16 x 3 in.); Unframed: 26 x 53.7 cm (10 1/4 x 21 1/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Tags
Painting Baroque (1600–1750) Oil Painting Flemish
Background & Context
Background Story
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) was a Flemish painter known for the dynamically composed, richly colored paintings that make him one of the most important painters in the history of art. Study for The Bear Hunt from c. 1639 is a preparatory study for a bear hunt painting commissioned for the Alcazar in Madrid, depicting a dynamically composed, richly colored hunting scene in the manner that distinguishes Rubens's best work from the more general painting of his contemporaries. The c. 1639 date places this in Rubens's late period, when he was producing some of his most dynamically composed works, and the bear hunt subject shows Rubens's talent for combining dynamic composition with rich color in the depiction of vigorous action.
Cultural Impact
The Study for The Bear Hunt is important in the history of art because it demonstrates the dynamically composed, richly colored manner that Rubens brought to hunting subjects in a preparatory study for a commission for the Alcazar in Madrid. Rubens's dynamically composed, richly colored paintings—demonstrating the dynamic composition and rich color that are his most distinctive contributions—represent one of the most important traditions in the history of art, and the c. 1639 study shows this tradition at its most dynamically composed.
Why It Matters
Study for The Bear Hunt is Rubens's dynamically composed preparatory study: a bear hunt rendered in the richly colored manner of one of the most important painters in the history of art, prepared for a commission for the Alcazar in Madrid. The c. 1639 study shows the dynamic composition and rich color that make Rubens one of the most important painters.
