Art Gallery Of Ontario

4 Portrait of Isabella Brant, c. 1620-25, Cleveland Museum of Art NARRATOR: This is Rubens’ first wife, Isabella Brant. The daughter of an Antwerp city official, she married the artist soon after he arrived back from Italy. Together, they had a daughter and two sons. KIRK NICKEL: And this portrait is a very loving representation of her not as his new bride, but as his beloved wife and mother of his children. What I love about this portrait is the way Rubens captures this finely regulated emotion that's expressed on her face. She has a real glint in her eye and seems entirely amused by this act of her husband painting her, but a real joy at the same time. NARRATOR: It’s a quickly-painted, intimate portrayal of the person closest to Rubens, Isabella’s expression conveying a vivid sense of her character and the connection between them. But the year after he made this painting, Isabella died at age thirty-five. By now, the family lived in the splendid mansion you’ll see in the engraving nearby. There,