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DOI Artikel:Jaffé, Michael: Rubens drawings in the Warsaw University Library
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18861#0103
fifteen years too soon to have been one of the first knights of Philippe le Bon's new order: but in
Rubens's pen drawing he stands in cap and mantle, one arm akimbo with the hand hidden, while
the other hand rests on a cane. Ambrogio Spinola as a Knight of the Golden Fleece is surely a
conscious recollection, both in pose and in fashion dress. The chivarlic and historie overtones
would not have been lost on this Genoese soldier of genins.
What we can discover of the date ar.d circumstances of the three painted portraits is based
primarily on Rubens's letters13 to Pierre Dupuy in Paris. On. 2 Sęptember 1627 the painter wrote
from Antwerp, in a postscript: „I have indeed painted the portrait of the Marquis Spinola from
life, but up to now it has not been engraved on copper, due to other oceupations which have
prevented it". This must have been in answer to an euquiry from Dupuy received d.urii>g the last
days of August; ar.d we m.ay take it, sińce Dupuy was kept regularly abreast of Rubens's news,
that the portrait was painted during the summer of 1627, that Spinola sat for at an.y rate the
painting of an oil sketch of the head, doubtless the one hitherto unpublished in Prague, and that
the portrait was commissioned by Spinola for himself. Rubens makes no further mention of an
engravin.g, which might have satisfied Dupuy's curiosity about the appearance of the man whosc
doughty doings were being reported to him: but on 9 December the same year he wrote from
Antwerp, again postscript: „I shall set to work upon the portrait of the Marąuis as soon as possi-
ble". Dupuy had gone beyond the idea of contenting himself with an impression from an engra-
ving, and had commissioned a painting in oils; and Rubens, to oblige his friend, must have set
to work with the minimum of delay. On 20 January 1628 he wrote again, and in the opening
paragraph of his letter: „Considering how bad the weather is, I am not surprised that my Lords
the Marąuises (scilicet Spinola and Leganes) have been seven days on the road, not counting the
first day, the 3rd of this month, sińce they departed toward evening. They write that they suf-
fered great discomfort due to the bad roads and that some of the baggage carts were overturned.
I believe that Marquis Spinola will have caused a great crowd of people to gather, for I know the
curiosity of the Paiisians. Now that you have seen him in person, you will be better
able to judge the resemblan.ee of the portrait I am working on, which is now well advanced".
(In margin: „Painting goes slowly in winter, sińce the colours do not dry easily").
Nevertheless there must have been other inhibitions besides the inclemency of the weather; for
it was not until 11 May that Rubens could write, „The portrait of the Marquis is all ready and at
your service. I am only waiting for a good opportunity to send it to you by someone who is going
to Paris"; and on 6 July he had to apologise for further delay, „I am sorry that I have not yet
found an opportunity to send you your Marquis, along with the Stemmata Principium Belgii.
I shall try to do so through the agency of M. Frarin, sińce the other method through M. Gault is
not possible".
The second basis of our enquiry is Bellori's statement that Rubens painted Spinola on his
return from the Siege of Breda, when he passed through Antwerp with the Infanta Isabella.
Bellori was acquainted in Rome with Van Dyck's friend Sir Kenelm Digby; and he appears to be
positively informed on the point of this earlier portrait which Rubens must have painted in July
1625. Bellori may also have known the engraving by Pieter de Jode15 (fig. 9), issued after Spinola's
death, which depends on the Brunswick portrait, reversing that and treating only the bust within
the confines of an oval. The identification of the Brunswick portrait with the portrait mentioned
13. R. S. Magurn, The letters of Peter Paul Rubens, Cambridge, Mass. 1953, nos. 122, 136, 143, 166, and 174; M. Rooses
and Ch. Ruelens, Correspondance de Rubens, IV, Antwerp, 1904.
14. G.-P. Bellori, Vile dei pittori..., Rome, 1672, 252.
15. V. S., 186, no. 276. Repr. by Rooses, op. cit., IV, pl. 316, Tbe reference by Voorhelm Sclmeevoght to a portrait of
Spinola in the Hermitage, is really to the Leuchtenberg version (cf. notes 17 and 18 below).
93
Rubens's pen drawing he stands in cap and mantle, one arm akimbo with the hand hidden, while
the other hand rests on a cane. Ambrogio Spinola as a Knight of the Golden Fleece is surely a
conscious recollection, both in pose and in fashion dress. The chivarlic and historie overtones
would not have been lost on this Genoese soldier of genins.
What we can discover of the date ar.d circumstances of the three painted portraits is based
primarily on Rubens's letters13 to Pierre Dupuy in Paris. On. 2 Sęptember 1627 the painter wrote
from Antwerp, in a postscript: „I have indeed painted the portrait of the Marquis Spinola from
life, but up to now it has not been engraved on copper, due to other oceupations which have
prevented it". This must have been in answer to an euquiry from Dupuy received d.urii>g the last
days of August; ar.d we m.ay take it, sińce Dupuy was kept regularly abreast of Rubens's news,
that the portrait was painted during the summer of 1627, that Spinola sat for at an.y rate the
painting of an oil sketch of the head, doubtless the one hitherto unpublished in Prague, and that
the portrait was commissioned by Spinola for himself. Rubens makes no further mention of an
engravin.g, which might have satisfied Dupuy's curiosity about the appearance of the man whosc
doughty doings were being reported to him: but on 9 December the same year he wrote from
Antwerp, again postscript: „I shall set to work upon the portrait of the Marąuis as soon as possi-
ble". Dupuy had gone beyond the idea of contenting himself with an impression from an engra-
ving, and had commissioned a painting in oils; and Rubens, to oblige his friend, must have set
to work with the minimum of delay. On 20 January 1628 he wrote again, and in the opening
paragraph of his letter: „Considering how bad the weather is, I am not surprised that my Lords
the Marąuises (scilicet Spinola and Leganes) have been seven days on the road, not counting the
first day, the 3rd of this month, sińce they departed toward evening. They write that they suf-
fered great discomfort due to the bad roads and that some of the baggage carts were overturned.
I believe that Marquis Spinola will have caused a great crowd of people to gather, for I know the
curiosity of the Paiisians. Now that you have seen him in person, you will be better
able to judge the resemblan.ee of the portrait I am working on, which is now well advanced".
(In margin: „Painting goes slowly in winter, sińce the colours do not dry easily").
Nevertheless there must have been other inhibitions besides the inclemency of the weather; for
it was not until 11 May that Rubens could write, „The portrait of the Marquis is all ready and at
your service. I am only waiting for a good opportunity to send it to you by someone who is going
to Paris"; and on 6 July he had to apologise for further delay, „I am sorry that I have not yet
found an opportunity to send you your Marquis, along with the Stemmata Principium Belgii.
I shall try to do so through the agency of M. Frarin, sińce the other method through M. Gault is
not possible".
The second basis of our enquiry is Bellori's statement that Rubens painted Spinola on his
return from the Siege of Breda, when he passed through Antwerp with the Infanta Isabella.
Bellori was acquainted in Rome with Van Dyck's friend Sir Kenelm Digby; and he appears to be
positively informed on the point of this earlier portrait which Rubens must have painted in July
1625. Bellori may also have known the engraving by Pieter de Jode15 (fig. 9), issued after Spinola's
death, which depends on the Brunswick portrait, reversing that and treating only the bust within
the confines of an oval. The identification of the Brunswick portrait with the portrait mentioned
13. R. S. Magurn, The letters of Peter Paul Rubens, Cambridge, Mass. 1953, nos. 122, 136, 143, 166, and 174; M. Rooses
and Ch. Ruelens, Correspondance de Rubens, IV, Antwerp, 1904.
14. G.-P. Bellori, Vile dei pittori..., Rome, 1672, 252.
15. V. S., 186, no. 276. Repr. by Rooses, op. cit., IV, pl. 316, Tbe reference by Voorhelm Sclmeevoght to a portrait of
Spinola in the Hermitage, is really to the Leuchtenberg version (cf. notes 17 and 18 below).
93