The Lost painting

Peter Paul Rubens: The Three Graces, (1620-1624)

 

 

Already in early spring I was in contact with the research services of the Finnish National Gallery, because they were about to move their collection. As a result, the archival material had to be ordered in advance so that it could be viewed in the summer. A lot of material was there, including newspaper clippings, a few letters written by Hall and literature in which the artist is mentioned. Let's start with the letters: they concerned a painting that had been in an exhibition at the Finnish Art Society, and which Hall wanted to find.

Rubens' The Three Graces

Hall studied at the Stockholm Academy of Fine Arts from 1875 to 1881. During his studies, he probably painted a copy of The Three Graces by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). Copies of paintings by old masters were a common practice in art education at the time. It was a way of familiarising oneself with the masters' painting techniques and treatment of the subject matter.
 

Rubens painted several versions of the Three Graces. In my research into Hall's production, I have not yet found the copy in question, so it is unclear which of Rubens' paintings was copied. Two of them, versions painted in the 1620s and 1630s, are illustrated in this article.

Lost painting

The inquiry about the painting was started by Richard Hall's brother Edward. In March 1881, he wrote to B.O. Schauman, the curator of the Finnish Art Society, inquiring whether the Rubens copy exhibited by the Society had been sold. He advised Schauman to contact Richard directly at the address 'Akademin för de Fria Konsterna, Fredogatan, Stockholm'.
 

While examining these letters at the National Gallery, I went through the Art Society's exhibition catalogues for 1881 and previous years, but found no mention of the painting in question. So it remains a mystery where the work had been exhibited.
 

Apparently there was no reply from Schauman, because Richard Hall sent him another letter on 11 July 1881 from Vaasa. The artist's parents lived in Vaasa, and Hall's father worked as a bank chamberlain there. Hall asked Schauman if the painting on the premises of the Art Society in Helsinki had been sold. He asked for a reply to be sent to 'Wasa Aktie Bank, Wasa'.

Hall returned to the matter again on 31 July 1881. He thanked Schauman for a postcard he had received from him on 13 July. Apparently the postcard contained sharp criticism of the Rubens copy, as Hall writes that he was surprised by it. He also states that if the painting cannot be found, the Art Society should reimburse him for its sale price of 300 marks.

In Conclusion

That is all we know so far about the fate of the Rubens copy. It would be interesting to find the painting, as it probably features a subject that was rare for Hall: nude human figurines. 

 

 

 

Peter Paul Rubens: The Three Graces (1636–1638)

 

Photo sources:

Peter Paul Rubens: The Three Graces, (1620-1624)
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rubens,_Peter_Paul_(workshop)_-_Die_drei_Grazien_-_1620-24.jpg

Peter Paul Rubens: The Three Graces (1636–1638)
Museo del Prado, Madrid
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Three_Graces,_by_Peter_Paul_Rubens,_from_Prado_in_Google_Earth.jpg