Helena Fourment with Children

Helena Fourment with Children is a c.1636 painting by Peter Paul Rubens, showing his second wife Helena Fourment with their son Frans (born 12 July 1633) in her arms and their daughter Clara Johanna (born 18 January 1632) standing to their left.

The painting is an oil on canvas measuring 1.15 m. on 0.85 m.[1] This represents Hélène Fourment (1614–1673), the second wife of the painter Pierre Paul Rubens.

Daughter of a wealthy merchant in tapestries, she married the painter in 1630[2] at the age of 16 while the latter, widower of his first wife, was 53 at the time of the wedding.

In the center of the composition, Hélène Fourment wears a simple white dress and hugs her son Frans.

[4] A pentimento reveals, between the heads of Frans and Clara-Johanna, the arms of a third child, Isabelle, born in 1635.