Rubens' Three Children: P.15087-R

Current Location: In storage

Titles

Rubens' Three Children

Maker(s)

Printmaker: Tassaert, Philippe Joseph
Publisher: Tassaert, Philippe Joseph
Painter: Rubens, Peter Paul (After)

Entities

Description

After the painting by Rubens. Three children play with a large dog in an interior. At the centre, a young boy rides on the dog's back, grasping the chain attached to the collar around its neck, the dog turning its head to lick at the boy's face. An older girl holds the collar around the dog's neck to the left. A toddler standing in a baby walker at the far right plays with the dog's tail. The baby wears a padded roll around its head known as a "pudding" which was intended to protect the head in case of falls. Leading strings, designed to help guide a child in walking, are attached to the back of the baby's gown at the shoulders. An open door leads into a hallway on the right and four busts are arranged along the top of a decorative niche to the left.

Notes

History note: VanSittart gave 1,485 engravings to the Fitzwilliam Museum in 1879 and this mezzotint was probably included within this group. The number written in pen and ink on the verso presumably relates to Vansittart's own cataloguing system and the number written in graphite on the recto to some kind of count by curators at the time of the acquisition.

Legal notes

Given by Augustus Arthur VanSittart, ?1879

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1879) by VanSittart, Augustus Arthur

Dating

18th Century#
1747 - 1803

Note

Mezzotint. Proof before letters. Inscription space uncleaned. Closely comparable with the British Museum's proof, 1874,0711.878. The laid paper support bears a watermark and countermark, probably indicating a paper of eighteenth-century French origin (See Notes). Inscribed in pen and ink in an eighteenth-century hand or earlier, possibly by Vansittart, in the margins at lower right: 'Tassart [sic]'. Inscribed in graphite (curatorial hand) in the margins at lower right: 'Tassaert / S.3 [Chaloner Smith] / P.1355'; '422'. Inscribed on the verso in pen and ink: '9265'. Inscribed on the verso in graphite (curatorial hand): 'Vansittart Collection'; 'm 10'.