Rubens at The Wallace Collection review – landscapes reunited at last
To almost hysterical hype, two large Peter Paul Rubens landscapes, The Rainbow Landscape and A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning – universally recognised as a “pair” – are currently on view together at The Wallace Collection, Manchester Square, London.
The event is as rare as an eclipse. These two heavenly artworks typically occupy different orbits. The Wallace collection owns Rainbow, the National Gallery, Het Steen. The companion works graced Rubens’ own study and were his private take on the manor of Het Steen, a demesne with chateau Rubens acquired in 1665. The terms of The Wallace Collection endowment do not permit lending, so Het Steen had to come to rainbow.
This is a pity, as the room in The Wallace Collection where they are displayed is an unsuitable, cramped rectangle. The paintings face each other on opposite walls. They would best be seen, as initially intended, side by side. They are, after all, complementary perspectives on essentially the same landscape, observed at different times of the day.
To appreciate Rubens’ subtle use of light, the eye needs to flit from one to the other, not across the heads of viewers blocking lines of sight. The subject matter is a crowded scene of local pursuits and sights – carting, wildfowling, haymaking, herding cattle and ducks splashing in a stream. The narrative flows naturally from the chateau, left to right. It does not work across a void.
Nothing can prepare the viewer for the blaze of colour that leaps from each canvass; yellowed varnish has been painstakingly removed in a major programme of restoration. Website videos fail to do justice to the vibrancy of reds, greens and straw yellows that beguile the eye. There is no substitute for in-person viewing.
The pair are by no means artistic masterpieces. They were never intended for public view during Rubens’ lifetime. Rather, they are the fond jottings of an artist of his much-loved Het Steen and the rural pursuits surrounding it. The works grew with time, seventeen wooden panels being added almost willy-nilly until the original, compact centres of the works assumed the final gargantuan scale we see today. Close inspection shows the joins as Rubens employed skilled carpenters to add scale to his evolving project.
There are some compositional quirks. A cloud intersects the rainbow – an impossibility. Oddly, an early Turner makes a similar but opposite error – an ethereal moon with clouds floating behind it. Write it off as artistic licence.
It is worth reflecting that Rubens operated a studio on an industrial scale. He was probably the wealthiest 17th-century artist on the planet, at the height of his artistic and economic powers when he acquired his country chateau. To give some sense of value Het Steen recently changed hands for €4 million.
I felt a sense of privilege, being made privy to the private life of the master artist. After all, his commissioned works with which we are most familiar are for someone else and even Rubens’ self-portraits aim at fostering an image. Here, at Het Steen, we become insiders.
There is an excellent ten-minute film available explaining the history of the paintings, which should be watched beforehand. The show runs through summer 2021. Worth seeking out. Unlike a predictable eclipse, who knows when it will come round again.