418, Lot: 557. Estimate $100. Sold for $75. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

BELGIUM. temp. Léopold I. 1831-1865. Æ Medal (67mm, 142.0 g, 12h). Statue of Peter Paul Rubens (1572-1640). By Joseph Hart. Dated 1840 (in Roman numerals). Draped bust of Rubens facing slightly left, wearing hat / RUBENIO CIVE SUO STATUA DONATO, statue of Rubens in Antwerp; in exergue, ANTVERPIA LÆTA/ MDCCCXXXX. Forrer II, p. 433-5. EF, some marks.

Collector’s note: “Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) was a Flemish painter, engraver, designer and architect and the most influential Baroque artist of Northern Europe. He was born in Westphalia but worked in several European countries, including Belgium (particularly in Antwerp, where they erected a monument in his honor), Italy and France, gaining an international reputation with his huge, vigorous paintings. Rubens worked for many of the royal families of Europe, his most notable commissions including 25 gigantic paintings of Marie de' Medici and a group of more than 100 mythological paintings for Philip IV of Spain. He was also appointed court painter to Archduke Albert of Brussels, was knighted by Charles I of England, and again by Philip IV of Portugal upon he completion of negotiations establishing a treaty between Portugal and England. This medal, showing his monument in Antwerp, commemorates the 200th year of his death.”