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Displaying items by tag: rubens in private: the master portrays his family

A portrait of Rubens’ young daughter Clara Serena, recently deaccessioned by New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, is going on display at the Rubenshuis in Antwerp. In 2013, it was auctioned as by a “follower of Rubens”, with an estimate of $20,000-$30,000. Now upgraded as authentic, it will hang in the artist’s own house, in the exhibition “Rubens in Private: the Master Portrays his Family” (March 28-June 28).

The earliest certain provenance of the portrait goes back to a New York collector in the 1930s and it was considered authentic until the American specialist Julius Held downgraded it in 1959.

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The "Self Portrait" by Rubens that graces the Rubens House is being restored. Visitors wishing to view the painting should do so by 7 September 2014; after that, the painting will travel to the National Gallery in London for restoration. The work will return in 2015 for the exhibition "Rubens in Private: The Master Portrays His Family," after which it will resume its usual place in the gallery.

Rubens’ "Self Portrait" is one of the Rubens House’s most notable paintings. It is of iconic value to Antwerp and rarely leaves the museum. The painting will soon be restored for the upcoming exhibition "Rubens in Private: The Master Portrays His Family," which offers a glimpse of Rubens as his family’s portraitist. The works are the most beautiful and intimate portraits the master ever created. They were painted not on commission, but out of love, and served primarily as keepsakes. In 2015 these breathtaking works of art will be displayed together for the first time in the place where they belong: Rubens’ former home in Antwerp.

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