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Lot Essay
This dramatic work is a fascinating example of the ways in which popular compositions by Peter Paul Rubens were employed and revived in his studio. Rubens, a devoted Classical enthusiast and scholar, painted his first depiction Hero and Leander of circa 1602 to 1605 during his time in Italy (New Haven, Yale University Art Gallery, inv. no. 1962.25), inspired by Ovid’s Heroides and the Greek poet Musaeus’s tale of Hero and Leander. Several other depictions of the subject followed, produced by Rubens and his workshop.
In 1619, Rubens requested that his ‘favola di Leandro’ be turned into a print by the Antwerp engraver Lucas Vorsterman. Though this was never completed, a preparatory drawing attributed to Vorsterman demonstrates that the project was at least begun (Paris, Musée du Louvre, Cabinet des Dessin). This drawing almost exactly reproduces the present Hero and Leander, suggesting that the two were created synonymously as part of the preparations for the creation of the engraving. The exact chronology of this process of manufacture is more difficult to establish, though it seems probable that the painting was made for the printer by Rubens’s workshop to allow him to make his copy, with minor changes suggesting the master himself supervised its creation, editing his original design.
The Hero and Leander show several important influences from Rubens’ time in Italy. The nereid in the central wave, for example, was clearly derived from Michelangelo’s Night from the tomb of Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici (Florence, Basilica di San Lorenzo), while the falling Hero resembles the figure of Saint Mark in Tintoretto’s Miracle of the Slave (Venice, Gallerie dell’Accademia).
In 1619, Rubens requested that his ‘favola di Leandro’ be turned into a print by the Antwerp engraver Lucas Vorsterman. Though this was never completed, a preparatory drawing attributed to Vorsterman demonstrates that the project was at least begun (Paris, Musée du Louvre, Cabinet des Dessin). This drawing almost exactly reproduces the present Hero and Leander, suggesting that the two were created synonymously as part of the preparations for the creation of the engraving. The exact chronology of this process of manufacture is more difficult to establish, though it seems probable that the painting was made for the printer by Rubens’s workshop to allow him to make his copy, with minor changes suggesting the master himself supervised its creation, editing his original design.
The Hero and Leander show several important influences from Rubens’ time in Italy. The nereid in the central wave, for example, was clearly derived from Michelangelo’s Night from the tomb of Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici (Florence, Basilica di San Lorenzo), while the falling Hero resembles the figure of Saint Mark in Tintoretto’s Miracle of the Slave (Venice, Gallerie dell’Accademia).