Löwenjagd (Ölskizze); Rückseite: Vermählung in Procuratione (Skizze zum Medici-Zyklus)

This small panel had two working lives. Around 1621 Rubens used one side to try out a lion hunt, connected with the large Lion Hunt canvas in this museum, setting down the climax of the chase in a few sure strokes and patches of colour. Attack, defence and the moment of greatest danger are packed into a tight knot, and the streaky priming underneath shows through and keeps the surface alive. A year or so later, busy with Marie de' Medici's gallery, he turned the panel over and used the back for an early idea of her wedding by proxy in Florence. In the background of that scene stands a sculpture of God the Father with his Son, a sign that the marriage rests on love, and his pointing gesture is still vague here compared with the museum's other sketch of the subject. The Pinakothek bought the panel in 1996, and it is shown in a case so that both sides can be seen.