Description
On June 22, 1639, King Philip IV of Spain received a letter from his younger brother Ferdinand (1609–1641). The letter explained that the artist Peter Paul Rubens had recently completed all of the sketches for a series of paintings that were to hang in the halls of the Alcázar Palace in Madrid. Bear Hunt is one of seven surviving studies out of the original eighteen. In this scene, a bear attacks a hunter and a companion comes to his aide The others work to stave off a second angry bear. The sketch was completed in the last year Rubens's life, and the paintings for the series were never completed.
Provenance
(Christie's, London, E. Henstridge sale, April 11, 1930, no. 91, sold to Rothschild); (A. G. von Frey [Alexander von Frey]); (Thos. Agnew & Sons, London). (Nov. 12, 1930 - June 10, 1937); G. Huntington Hartford (1911-2008), New York. (June 10, 1937 -); (Newhouse Galleries, New York) (- May 15, 1972); (Thos. Agnew & Sons, London) (May 15, 1972 - Feb. 13, 1973); Private collection; (Thos. Agnew and Sons, London) (1979); Private collection, Portugal. (1980); (Sotheby's, London, sale, June 23, 1983, no. 40, ill.) (1983); (Newhouse Galleries, New York), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art. (1983)
Accession Number
1983.69
Medium
oil on wood
Dimensions
Framed: 70.5 x 40.6 x 7.6 cm (27 3/4 x 16 x 3 in.); Unframed: 26 x 53.7 cm (10 1/4 x 21 1/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
