1639
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Study for "The Bear Hunt" (for the Alcázar, Madrid) is a 1639 unspecified by Peter Paul Rubens, a Baroque work, depicting Hunting, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a tangle of legs, fur, and spears—hunters fighting two snarling bears in a dark forest. This is a quick sketch Rubens made for a huge palace wall in Madrid. The king’s brother wrote that Rubens finished all eighteen studies in one burst of work. Only seven survive, and this one feels alive because the paint is still wet, the lines urgent. Look up more of the series at The Cleveland Museum of Art.
On June 22, 1639, King Philip IV of Spain received a letter from his younger brother Ferdinand (1609–1641). The letter explained that the artist Peter Paul Rubens had recently completed all of the sketches for a series of paintings that were to hang in the halls of the Alcázar Palace in Madrid. Bear Hunt is one of seven surviving studies out of the original eighteen. In this scene, a bear attacks a hunter and a companion comes to his aide The others work to stave off a second angry bear. The sketch was completed in the last year Rubens's life, and the paintings for the series were never…
With just a few quick brushstrokes, Rubens evokes the energy and drama of a ferocious hunt.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ROO-bənz; Dutch: ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat.
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