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=== Symbolism ===
=== Symbolism ===
The honeysuckle plant has had various meanings over the years. Most notably, the meaning that is still associated with the flower, began in the [[Middle Ages]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Heilmeyer |first=Marina |title=The Language of Flowers: Symbols and Myths |publisher=[[Prestel Verlag]] |year=2001 |isbn=3791323962 |location=Munich, London, New York |pages=36}}</ref> The overall qualities that the honeysuckle plant symbolized was the idea of lasting pleasure; it also had meanings of steadfastness and permanence. This became a typical symbol found in paintings in the time of Rubens.<ref name=":1" />
The honeysuckle plant has had various meanings over the years. Most notably, the meaning that is still associated with the flower, began in the [[Middle Ages]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Heilmeyer |first=Marina |title=The Language of Flowers: Symbols and Myths |publisher=[[Prestel Verlag]] |year=2001 |isbn=3791323962 |location=Munich, London, New York |pages=36}}</ref> The overall qualities that the honeysuckle plant symbolized was the idea of lasting pleasure; it also had meanings of steadfastness and permanence. This became a typical symbol found in paintings in the time of Rubens.<ref name=":1" />

The Garden of Love was a popular literary concept and symbol around the same time that the painting was created. The initial concept may have come from symbols of paradise that were present in medieval [[cloister]] gardens.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Liedtke |first=Walter A. |title=Flemish Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art |last2=Metropolitan Museum of Art |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=1984 |isbn=9780300086065 |location=United States |pages=180}}</ref>


==Details==
==Details==

Revision as of 23:34, 10 May 2023

The Honeysuckle Bower
ArtistPeter Paul Rubens
Yearc. 1609
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions178 cm × 136.5 cm (70 in × 53.7 in)
LocationAlte Pinakothek, Munich

The Honeysuckle Bower is a self-portrait of the Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens and his first wife Isabella Brant, executed c. 1609. They wed on 3 October 1609, in St. Michael's Abbey, Antwerp, shortly after he had returned to the city after eight years in Italy.[1]

Additionally, Rubens depicts himself as an aristocratic gentleman with his left hand on the hilt of his sword.[2]

Description

The painting is a full-length double portrait of the couple seated in a bower (wikt) of honeysuckle. They are surrounded by love and marriage symbolism: the honeysuckle and garden are both traditional symbols of love, and the holding of right hands (junctio dextrarum) represents union through marriage.[3][4]

Symbolism

The honeysuckle plant has had various meanings over the years. Most notably, the meaning that is still associated with the flower, began in the Middle Ages.[5] The overall qualities that the honeysuckle plant symbolized was the idea of lasting pleasure; it also had meanings of steadfastness and permanence. This became a typical symbol found in paintings in the time of Rubens.[5]

The Garden of Love was a popular literary concept and symbol around the same time that the painting was created. The initial concept may have come from symbols of paradise that were present in medieval cloister gardens.[6]

Details

  • The couple, close-up
    The couple, close-up
  • Isabella Brant
    Isabella Brant
  • The hands
    The hands

Notes

  1. ^ Kristin Lohse Belkin, Rubens, London: Phadon (1998): 95–98. ISBN 0-7148-3412-2
  2. ^ Belkin, 98.
  3. ^ Martin Schawe, Alte Pinakothek Munich, 2nd. ed., Munich: Prestel (2002): 76. ISBN 3-7913-2239-7
  4. ^ Hans Vlieghe, Flemish Art and Architecture 1585–1700, New Haven: Yale University Press (1998): 121–122. ISBN 0-300-07038-1
  5. ^ a b Heilmeyer, Marina (2001). The Language of Flowers: Symbols and Myths. Munich, London, New York: Prestel Verlag. p. 36. ISBN 3791323962.
  6. ^ Liedtke, Walter A.; Metropolitan Museum of Art (1984). Flemish Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. United States: Yale University Press. p. 180. ISBN 9780300086065.

Media related to Honeysuckle Bower by Peter Paul Rubens at Wikimedia Commons

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