Four Studies of a Male Head Gm-00065401

Workshop of Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640) Skillfully copying a study by Peter Paul Rubens, this unknown artist, probably an assistant in Rubens's studio, explored a variety of facial expressions and poses while retaining the liveliness and immediacy of Rubens's original sketch. Using a single dim source of light, he created strong contrasts of brightness and shadow on the man's skin, varying these along with the different expressions. He aptly captured Rubens's great achievement--the three-dimensional quality of his modeling and the pulsating vitality he bestowed on painted human flesh.

Rubens produced a celebrated series of studio heads, executing some from life and inventing others from imaginary stock figure types. He kept these preliminary studies permanently on hand in the studio for reference. These studies of an African may have been used as a source for one of the kings in the Adoration of the Magi, who was often depicted as a Moor. Aside from this subject, images of African figures were uncommon in European Renaissance and Baroque art.

Our Cards are all printed on 100% cotton tree-free archival paper. All Cards include a recycled kraft envelope in a protective sleeve individually hand wrapped for you. Each card is printed one at a time and hand bound here in Lugano, Switzerland. We ship all over the world via SwissPost. Please allow 5-9 business days for us to make them and 5-7 business days for transit. Art Prints are printed on heavy matte finish German art paper using the finest Canon archival inks. Frame is black natural with a white mattboard and Acrylite glazing.

Wall Murals are printed on 42" matte finish, self-adhesive Kodak PhotoText fabric panels that combine and mount easily on a non textured wall surface. We can custom make to any size, just ask.

Stretched Canvas is stretched by hand over 1.5" thick pine bars and printed on cotton poly matte finish canvas. Each canvas is hand coated with Hahnemuhle UV/Archive coating, these are Swiss quality best in industry canvases.

All our images are digitized from the original negative, printed and assembled in Switzerland to museum standards by our master printer.

All of our products are popular and custom made by hand to order, please allow 2-4 weeks to make them and 1-2 weeks for shipment anywhere in the world.

Questions? Please email service@archivea.com

Artwork in this collection is from The J. Paul Getty Museum. Reproduction rights are reserved by the copyright owner and used under license by Archivea GmbH.