About this artwork
The figure of Prudence is taken from Raphael’s fresco The Cardinal Virtues of 1511, which Rubens saw in Rome. He added an L-shaped piece of paper and a few retouches to an Italian red chalk drawing of about 1540-60. Rubens completed the figure’s right foot and the putto’s wings and also changed Prudence’s profile and the shape of the mirror, adding a handle. From the late seventeenth century onwards, connoisseurs have observed that Rubens repeatedly retouched drawings by other artists. Valerius Röver, the eminent eighteenth-century Dutch collector, described such works as ‘Rubenised’ (‘Rubenisato’).
Updated before 2020
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artist:
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title:Prudence
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date created:About 1540 - 1560; 1609
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after:Raphael (Raffaello Santi) (1483 - 1520) Italian
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retouched by:Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577 - 1640) Flemish
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materials:Red chalk, brush and red ink and some cream-coloured bodycolour on paper
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measurements:18.10 x 21.20 cm (with added strip along left and lower margins)
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object type:
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credit line:David Laing Bequest to the Royal Scottish Academy transferred 1910
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accession number:D 1787
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gallery:
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