Portrait of a Woman, possibly Clara Fourment

In December 1630 Rubens, a widower of 53, married Helena Fourment, the 16-year-old daughter of an Antwerp silk and tapestry merchant. The woman in this portrait, painted around the same time, is probably one of Helena's elder sisters, Clara, who was 21 years older than the bride. If that identification is right, her husband was the Antwerp dealer Peter van Hecke, whom Rubens painted in a matching portrait, and these sitters were family to him, or about to be. She sits in a carved armchair in shiny black fabric under a wide pleated ruff, with pearls at her throat and ears and a fan of ostrich feathers in her hand. Behind her a red curtain is pulled back from a column, and past the column opens a view of the sea with a ship under sail.