Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) Flemish
When the Dayton Art Institute sent this painting for restoration work in the early 1960s, I wonder if the curators were as surprised as everyone else by what they received in return.
The oil on oak panel (26 ½ by 19 ¾ inches, circa 1612) had not been touched for some time. It was no doubt a magnificent study by the master, but it had a secret under the years of old varnish and dirt.
When a layer of dark paint was removed, the second head we see here on the left literally came to light.
This over-painting of a work by Sir Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1641) would be inconceivable to us today, but the practice of “touching up” a piece to make it salable was not uncommon a few hundred years ago. We can see the more refined head on the right side of the piece and an intermediate stage study on the left.
Because Rubens maintained a sizable studio to produce his many large-scale works, smaller studies were used to guide the assistants in the production phase of the final painting.
We value these smaller paintings today because they are most certainly from the master’s hand alone.
Rubens would be surprised that we are so attached to these works; to him, they were workshop studies, not meant for public display. It is quite possible this was painted from life, but Rubens had an astounding visual memory and he could just as easily have captured the old gentleman without reference.
Rubens also was more than an artist; he was a diplomat as well. He was fluent in several languages, and his movement among the courts of Europe enabled him to collect and distribute sensitive information.
Nationally renowned local artist Michael McEwan teaches painting and drawing classes at his Clintonville area studio.
Image Credit
Heads of an Old Man, c. 1612, Oil on oak panel
26 ½ x 19 ¾ inches (67.3 x 50.2 cm)
The Dayton Art Institute
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Carlton W. Smith, 1960.82
