COLOUR STUDY

Colour palette

#A79480
#B5A694
#8E7B68
#AD9D8A
#B1A08D
#D0C9BE

Approximate colour proportions

#A7948026.1%
#B5A69418.9%
#8E7B6817.8%
#AD9D8A15.6%
#B1A08D13.3%
#D0C9BE8.3%

Estimated from six colour groups in the museum image, including visible paper or borders. Reproduction and lighting affect the result; these are image-area proportions, not pigment measurements.

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund · The Cleveland Museum of Art
Image licence: CC0 · Museum record & image source ↗

Flanders · c. 1632/35

Reconciliation of the Romans and the Sabines (recto) Venus Disarming Mars, Drapery Study (verso)

Peter Paul Rubens

Date: c. 1632/35
Medium: pen and brown ink and brush and gray and brown wash; framing lines in brown ink
Dimensions: Sheet: 19.9 x 49.2 cm (7 13/16 x 19 3/8 in.)
Country / context: Flanders
Movement / tradition: European and American art
Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Attribution / role: Museum attribution
Pathway: European and American art ↗

ABOUT THIS WORK

Reconciliation of the Romans and the Sabines (recto) Venus Disarming Mars, Drapery Study (verso) is a representative work in our Peter Paul Rubens guide. The catalogue records pen and brown ink and brush and gray and brown wash; framing lines in brown ink. Museum attribution. The linked artist guide places it alongside other works from the artist’s career.

Original educational overview · based on the linked museum record

Place in the artist’s career

Compare the painted hunting scene, the multi-figure drawing and the late Bear Hunt study. Different supports and degrees of finish test movement before or alongside larger projects. Follow diagonals, body turns and the use of light or colour to connect figures; a rapid study can be an intentional tool rather than an incomplete final picture.