A Portrait Drawing Of Isabella Brant By Peter Paul Rubens, C.1621 Editorial Photo

Peter Paul Rubens, drawing of Isabella Brant, c. 1621, black chalk, pen and brown ink on blue paper.The posthumous portrait to commemorate Isabella which Rubens completed after his earlier celebrated chalk drawing reveals his abiding attitude towards his “excellent companion.” She is shown with her right hand holding a small book, in the same position as Rubens’s right hand in The Honeysuckle Bower. This time, however, Rubens is not there to support it. Instead, she cradles her own right breast with her left hand. In the background is a column overgrown in vine, which possesses the same emblematic significance of the dead tree