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Study of Two Heads

ca. 1609
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 639
Rubens painted studies of heads after live models and artistic sources, creating a cast of characters that served in turn as models for figures in religious and mythological works. The main figure of this study served variously as a saint, a high priest, a river god, and the philosopher Plato. The other head, derived from one by Mantegna, had its own artistic afterlife. Rubens’s disciples Jacob Jordaens and especially Anthony van Dyck followed the same practice.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Study of Two Heads
  • Artist: Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, Siegen 1577–1640 Antwerp)
  • Date: ca. 1609
  • Medium: Oil on wood
  • Dimensions: 27 1/2 x 20 1/2 in. (69.9 x 52.1 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Miss Adelaide Milton de Groot (1876-1967), 1967
  • Object Number: 67.187.99
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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Pompa Introitus...Ferdinand, Austriaci. Antwerp, Peter Paul Rubens Flemish, Etching
Pompa Introitus...Ferdinand, Austriaci. Antwerp
Multiple artists/makers
1635
The Flagellation of Christ
Peter Paul Rubens
Franciscus van den Wijngaerde
17th century
The Virgin with the Child seated near the cradle
Multiple artists/makers
17th century
David Slaying Goliath
Multiple artists/makers
1751
The Temptation of Christ
Peter Paul Rubens
Christoffel Jegher
before 1652

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