Portrait of Helena Fourment, Rubens' second wife, wearing a fur coat over her shoulders

Art Historical Context

This delicate etching captures the alluring beauty of Helena Fourment the second wife of the illustrious Baroque master Peter Paul Rubens, draped seductively in a fur coat over her shoulders. Created in 1728 by engraver Frans van Stampart it reproduces Rubens' famous early 17th-century oil portrait, known as *Het Pelsken* ("The Little Fur"). At just 9 1/16 × 6 3/8 inches, the trimmed sheet exemplifies the intimate scale of reproductive prints that popularized Rubens' sensual, voluptuous style long after his death in 1640. Etching, an intaglio technique where acid bites into a metal plate to create rich, tonal lines, allowed Stampart to mimic Rubens' masterful handling of light, texture, and flesh tones. The fur's soft undulations and Helena's glowing skin highlight Baroque ideals of vitality and eroticism, transforming a private marital portrait into a widely admired icon of feminine allure. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department (The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, 1951), this work underscores Rubens' enduring influence into the 18th century. It reflects how prints democratized access to elite art, bridging Rubens' Antwerp studio to European connoisseurs and celebrating the tender, personal side of one of history's greatest painters.

About the Artist

Helena Fourment|Peter Paul Rubens|Frans van Stampart (British|Flemish|Flemish) · 1746 |1614 |1577 –1823 |1673 |1640

British, London? 1746/47?–1823 Paris|Flemish, Antwerp 1614–1673 Brussels|Flemish, Siegen 1577–1640 Antwerp