Peace Embracing Plenty

Peter Paul Rubens, between 1633 and 1634

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Artist: Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640)
Medium: Oil on panel
Size: 24 3/4 × 18 1/2 inches (62.9 × 47 cm)
Museum: Yale Center for British Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

The Flemish-born Peter Paul Rubens was a classical scholar and diplomat, in addition to being a painter. Following a mission to London on behalf of the king of Spain in 1630, he was commissioned by Charles I to decorate the ceiling of the Banqueting House at Whitehall Palace with a scheme celebrating the reign of Charles’s father, James I. This is a preparatory modello, or sketch, that Rubens made to guide the assistants in his busy Antwerp studio.

The two female figures represent a smaller section of a larger central panel. Peace, draped in gold, moves to embrace Plenty, who is clad in pink and carrying a cornucopia, a symbol of abundance. Behind them looms an architectural caprice with a niche surrounded by four Solomonic columns. Traditionally associated with the First Temple of Jerusalem built by King Solomon, the columns are attributes of a wise and prosperous reign.

Text: Yale Center for British Art.