Isabella Brant

Isabella Brant (or Brandt; 1591 – 15 July 1626[1]) was the first wife of the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens, who painted several portraits of her.

Isabella Brant
Portrait of Isabella Brant by Rubens, c. 1620–1625 (Cleveland Museum of Art)
Born	1591
Died	15 July 1626 (aged 34)
Nationality	Flemish
Spouse(s)	Peter Paul Rubens
Children	Clara Rubens, Nikolaas Rubens, Albert Rubens

Family

She was the eldest daughter of Jan Brant, an important city official in Antwerp, and Clara de Moy, daughter of Hendrik de Moy. Her aunt Marie de Moy was married to Phillipe I Rubens, brother of her future husband. Isabella Brant married the brother of her uncle Peter Paul on 3 October 1609 in St. Michael's Abbey, Antwerp. They had three children: Clara, Nicolaas, Lord of Rameyen and Albert. She was 34 years old when she died of the plague.

Jan Brant;
married to Clara de Moy; daughter of Hendrik de Moy.[2]

1. 1. Isabella Brant, (1591–1626);
      married to Peter Paul Rubens.
      1. Albert Rubens
   2. Hendrik Brant (1594); died in youth.
   3. Jan Brant (1596); died without children.
   4. Clara Brant (1599);
      married in 1619 to Daniel II Fourment, Lord of Wijtvliet, brother of Helena Fourment

Works

Several paintings of Brant and one important drawing of her by Rubens survive, in addition to a portrait of her by Rubens' disciple and assistant, Anthony van Dyck.

In 1977, Brant appeared on a postage stamp of Anguilla.

Gallery

• 
  The Honeysuckle Bower by Rubens, c. 1609: the painter and Isabella Brant the year of their marriage (Alte Pinakothek, Munich)
• 
  Portrait drawing of Isabella Brant by Rubens, c. 1621 (British Museum, London)
• 
  Portrait of Isabella Brant by Anthony van Dyck, c. 1623–1626 (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)
• 
  Portrait of Isabella Brant by Rubens, c. 1625 (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence)
• 
  Clara Serena Rubens (1611–1623) - Rubenshuis Antwerp

Notes

1. ROSINE DE DIJN, "Liefde, leed en passie. De vrouwen van Rubens", Van Halewyck, Leuven, 2009
2. “De” Vlaamsche school: algemeen tijdschrift voor kunsten en letteren / Buschmann, 1863

Further reading

• Liedtke , Walter A. (1984). Flemish paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 0870993569. (see index).

External links

• Media related to Isabella Brant at Wikimedia Commons