Het Pelsken (Helena Fourment in a Fur Robe)

Peter Paul Rubens

c. 1636–1638 · Oil on panel · Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Size2:3 ratio

Frame

$59Unframed print · made to order

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Complete the setHangs well with these two

This print

Het Pelsken (Helena Fourment in a Fur Robe)

Massacre of the Innocents

Samson and Delilah

3 × $59 at 16 × 24 in, unframed = $177 → $159.30 as a set · 10% included · free shipping

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About this work

Artist: Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640)
Year: c. 1636–1638
Medium: Oil on panel
Original size: 176 × 83 cm
Collection: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Movement: Baroque

Helena Fourment, Rubens's second wife, stands as if just out of the bath, a black fur mantle gathered round her shoulders and hips with one hand, her head turned to meet the viewer without embarrassment. The pose comes from the ancient Venus pudica and from Titian's Girl in a Fur, which Rubens had copied in Charles I's collection; both pictures play soft white skin against dark fur. But where Titian idealised, Rubens painted the dimpled knees and the marks a garter and bodice leave on flesh, and the result is a life-size portrait that is also the most private picture he made. He painted it around 1636 to 1638, in his last years, and left it to Helena in his will of 1640; it appears in her own will in 1658 and had reached the imperial gallery in Vienna by 1730. It hangs in the Kunsthistorisches Museum under the Flemish nickname Het Pelsken, the little fur.

This exhibition-poster edition shows the whole work beneath original typography set in-house. The original is in the public domain.

Details & materials

• Exhibition poster — original, drawn in-house • Heavyweight matte fine-art paper, giclée printed at 300 DPI • Sizes: 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in; 12×18 and 16×24 and 24×36 also available framed in black or natural wood • Made to order; colours may vary slightly from screen

Shipping & returns

Produced in 2–4 business days, then shipped from the facility nearest you. Delivery is typically 3–6 business days (US/UK/EU) and 5–12 worldwide. Because each print is made to order we don't take change-of-mind returns, but if it arrives damaged or flawed we'll reprint or refund it — no return needed. Full policy →

Is this the whole painting, or a crop?

The whole work, uncropped. The exhibition-poster edition sets the complete image above typography designed in-house.

Is Het Pelsken (Helena Fourment in a Fur Robe) in the public domain?

Yes. Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) died more than 70 years ago and the work was published before 1929, so the painting itself is public domain. This print is a reproduction made from a high-resolution scan of the original, which is held by Kunsthistorisches Museum.

What is it printed on?

Heavyweight matte fine-art paper with pigment inks, made to order in 12×18, 16×24 and 24×36 inches; the two larger sizes are also offered framed. Colours are matched to the scan, not brightened.

When was Het Pelsken (Helena Fourment in a Fur Robe) painted, and in what medium?

Het Pelsken (Helena Fourment in a Fur Robe) dates from c. 1636–1638 and was made in oil on panel; the original measures 176 × 83 cm.

What size works above a sofa or bed?

For a standard three-seat sofa or a queen bed, 24×36 inches reads as a single statement piece; 16×24 suits a narrower wall or a pairing. The print's proportions follow the original, so a landscape-format painting is wider than it is tall.

About this design

A museum-exhibition poster of Peter Paul Rubens's Het Pelsken — Het Pelsken — Helena Fourment wrapped in a fur robe, Rubens's intimate full-length portrait of his wife — shown whole and uncropped beneath gallery typography. The Flemish Baroque, styled as a blockbuster exhibition print. A gallery-style exhibition poster: a celebrated public-domain artwork shown whole and uncropped beneath original exhibition typography set in-house — printed to order on heavyweight matte fine-art paper. Three sizes (12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in); the 16×24 and 24×36 are also offered framed. Part of the Madten Exhibition Posters Collection. — — — Printed to order and shipped by our production partner, Gelato.

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The Madten promise

Gallery-grade archival giclée. Rich pigment inks on heavyweight fine-art paper (or gallery-wrapped canvas) — built to last, not a poster-shop print.

Arrives perfect or we reprint it — free. Every piece is made to order; if it shows up damaged or flawed we remake it, no return needed.

Free worldwide shipping. Made & shipped from the facility nearest you — most orders arrive in ~4–8 business days.

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