On view
European Art
Duane Wilder Gallery
Duane Wilder Gallery
The Abduction of Ganymede,
ca. 1636
Peter Paul Rubens, 1577–1640; born Siegen, Germany; died Antwerp, Belgium
2022-13
Late in his life, Rubens received two large and important commissions from King Philip IV of Spain. For the Torre de la Parada, the king’s hunting lodge outside Madrid, Rubens devised more than sixty mythological scenes, among them this oil sketch of the young Ganymede abducted by Jupiter in the guise of an eagle. For the Alcázar, Philip’s city palace, the king ordered a series of eighteen hunts; Rubens departed from the mythological account by the ancient Roman author Ovid in his Metamorphoses and instead portrayed the death of Adonis as a hunting accident. These quick and direct oil sketches demonstrate the assured touch and virtuoso economy of means by which Rubens conveyed his subjects.
Information
Title
The Abduction of Ganymede
Dates
ca. 1636
Maker
Medium
Oil on oak panel
Dimensions
33 × 24.8 cm (13 × 9 3/4 in.)
frame: 45.7 × 36.8 × 6.3 cm (18 × 14 1/2 × 2 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund
Object Number
2022-13
Place Made
Europe, Flanders, Antwerp
Inscription
Inscribed, upper center edge: 3 1/2
Culture
Type
Materials
Subject
Count Charles-André-Melchior de Proli, Antwerp (1723–1786);
His sale, Antwerp, Grange, 23 July 1785 ff., lot 6 (sold together with lot 5, an oil sketch for Saturn devouring his children) for 61 florins to De Roose, Brussels (mistaken for ‘De Loose’ in Rooses, see Literature, below);
François Pauwels (d. 1803), Aachen and Brussels;
His posthumous sale, Brussels, De Marneffe, 22 August 1803, lot 67 (as pendant to lot 66, oil sketch for Saturn devouring his children), for 140 florins (unsold according to McGrath, 2016);
Pauwels (perhaps the son of the above, as speculated by McGrath; see McGrath 2016) sale, Brussels, 25 August 1814, lot 14;
Count F. de Robiano, Brussels;
His sale on the premises, 1 May 1837 ff., lot 560.
With Frederick Mont, New York, by 1980;
Private collection, Lugano (whence offered anonymously, London, Sotheby's, 6 July 1994, lot 43, unsold);
By whom sold (‘Property from a Private Collection’), London, Sotheby's, 5 December 2007, lot 18;
Where acquired by Sir Peter Jonas (1946–2020);**
His sale, Sotheby’s, London, 8 December 2021, lot 5;
Where acquired by Princeton University Art Museum
His sale, Antwerp, Grange, 23 July 1785 ff., lot 6 (sold together with lot 5, an oil sketch for Saturn devouring his children) for 61 florins to De Roose, Brussels (mistaken for ‘De Loose’ in Rooses, see Literature, below);
François Pauwels (d. 1803), Aachen and Brussels;
His posthumous sale, Brussels, De Marneffe, 22 August 1803, lot 67 (as pendant to lot 66, oil sketch for Saturn devouring his children), for 140 florins (unsold according to McGrath, 2016);
Pauwels (perhaps the son of the above, as speculated by McGrath; see McGrath 2016) sale, Brussels, 25 August 1814, lot 14;
Count F. de Robiano, Brussels;
His sale on the premises, 1 May 1837 ff., lot 560.
With Frederick Mont, New York, by 1980;
Private collection, Lugano (whence offered anonymously, London, Sotheby's, 6 July 1994, lot 43, unsold);
By whom sold (‘Property from a Private Collection’), London, Sotheby's, 5 December 2007, lot 18;
Where acquired by Sir Peter Jonas (1946–2020);**
His sale, Sotheby’s, London, 8 December 2021, lot 5;
Where acquired by Princeton University Art Museum
