The Garden of Love

Rubens painted this around 1632, in his mid-fifties, a few years after he had married again. His first wife had died, and in 1630 he wed Helena Fourment, the young daughter of an Antwerp silk merchant, more than 30 years his junior. This is a picture of that second happiness. Elegant couples gather in a garden by a fountain, cupids nudge the shy ones forward, and the woman in blue being drawn into the scene has Helena's face. So do several of the others. Rubens was the most sought-after painter in Europe and the busiest of diplomats, and he made this one largely for himself. It hung in his own house rather than going to a patron, a private garden he could walk past every day.