Skip to Content
Today Open today 11–8

The Garden of Love, Right Half

A work made of woodcut on ivory laid paper.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

Image actions

  • A work made of woodcut on ivory laid paper.

Date:

c. 1631

Artist:

Christoffel Jegher
Flemish, 1596-1652/53
after Peter Paul Rubens
Flemish, 1577-1640

About this artwork

Christoffel Jegher produced several large-scale woodcuts in collaboration with the Flemish painter and diplomat Peter Paul Rubens, of which this two-sheet print is the largest. The panoramic garden setting includes delights such as a group of musical enthusiasts perched on plush chairs and colonnaded ledges on the left; on the right is a fountain grotto with decorative streams of water into which the most boisterous men try to cajole their lovers. The unsure woman on the far right, her waist firmly grasped by a smooth-talking admirer, resists the necessary push into temptation from a determined, winged Eros.

Rubens was deeply involved in producing prints after his paintings, of which the most illustrious were woodcuts created from about 1632 to 1636 by Christoffel Jegher. The most ambitious of these large woodcuts is the Garden of Love, a composition inspired by the painting of this subject (now at Waddeson Manor, Buckinghamshire), dated around 1630/31. Rather than an exact reproduction of the painting, the composition was redrawn with variations by Rubens on a separate sheet as a model for the woodcut artist to follow; it was then printed by Jeghers on two nearly equal-sized sheets that function as self-contained works. Belonging to the tradition of Medieval love gardens, the right half contains portraits of Rubens and his radiant young wife, Helena Fourment, who is echoed in almost all the female faces.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

Christoffel Jegher

Title

The Garden of Love, Right Half

Place

Germany (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1625–1635

Medium

Woodcut on ivory laid paper

Dimensions

45.8 × 60.3 cm (18 1/16 × 23 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

William McCallin McKee Memorial Endowment and Prints and Drawing Endowment #1

Reference Number

1993.179

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/122062/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Learn more

Image actions

Share