Warm light
One of the sweetest moments in Baroque Art thanks to Rubens with “Two Women with a Candle”
Simple…? You will be surprised

ARTIST Peter Paul Rubens
NAME Two Women with a Candle
LOCATION Mauritshuis, The Hague
YEAR 1616 – 1617
TYPE Painting
DIMENSIONS 79 x 64cm (31.1 x 25.1in)
TYPE Oil on canvas
Hi everyone!
Today we are going to make one more step into the Baroque style: the Flemish Baroque with Peter Paul Rubens.
Flemish Baroque refers to the Visual Art focused on paintings produced in the Southern Netherlands during Spanish control in the 16th and 17th centuries. And Rubens is considered the most influential artist of the style.
The reason why Rubens had such an important role is not only because of his undeniable skills, but also because he spent 8 years, from 1600 to 1608, in Italy. There he was able to learn more about the classics, but also his contemporaries: in particular Caravaggio, master of the Baroque.
(click here to discover the Baroque timeline)
And what we have here today is exactly a consequence of Caravaggio’s influence: “Two Women with a Candle” or “Old Woman and Young Woman with a Candle“.
The Painting
It is a 1616-1617 painting on which Rubens shows how he was able to manage the chiaroscuro effect. The painting honestly depicts a simple scene. There are an old woman with a candle and a young girl (or boy since we are not 100% sure) on her side trying to turn on another candle. However, this simplicity gives us some interesting elements to observe.
First of all I have to say that Rubens was a really popular and prolific artist. He was specialized on making altarpieces, portraits, landscapes and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects for important patrons. It happened he painted also for some friends and relatives, but what we have here it is an anonymous old lady, for sure not wealthy nor famous.
The old woman in fact is wearing modest clothes, a wool simple hat and both candles are almost over and without any sort of candle holder.
Candles at that time were expensive and that is why every inch of them was important for the poor people. And, like in Caravaggio’s painting, here as well the light is fundamental in the scene. It is the only source of light present and Rubens used it to paint this beautiful chiaroscuro effect.
The location of the candle cut almost in a half the painting, the right side in the dark and the left slightly lighted, but enough to make us read the facial expressions of the two figures.
QUIZ
There is an important element that makes the left side brighter. Can you see it?
The Faces
It is on the faces that Rubens wanted to focus our attention. The candle light enhances the old lady’s wrinkled face in contrast with the young smooth one. But, the lady’s look is lost somewhere: probably in her memories that, mixing emotions, make her face difficult to read. On the young instead we can see many feelings, in particular a mix of love-interest-curiosity typical of her young age.
The reason why I picked this painting is because of this contrasts: the chiaroscuro effect, that it is one the clearest contrasts in nature, here it is metaphor of another natural contrast: an old generation that is disappearing and a young generation that is growing.
We can read the action of the young girl on turning on the new candle like the transition to a new life with new hopes, dreams, memories.
Leave your comments because I am always happy to know your opinions!
The background is completely in the dark. It seems to be a flat wall, but it's hard to say. Rubens wanted to focus the attention on the main characters without "distractions"
The old lady's hat is really simple, but warm. Nothing fancy, but useful to survive the cold winter
The young girl is looking at the old lady with a mix of love, interest, curiosity. She seems trying to read her thoughts and it's so clear and sweet the contrast between the two on both the skin and the look.
The young girl's face helps also to make the left side brighter thanks to her smooth and bright skin. You found the answer, good job 🙂
The old lady's face suggests a lot of emotions that we can read on the faces of the old people we love. Probably what we feel more looking at her is tenderness
The old lady is wearing modest faded clothes symbols of her humble status
The whole scene is dominated by the careful use of chiaroscuro that Rubens learned in Rome with Caravaggio. And he learned pretty good 😉 Check in particular the old lady's wrinkles...
The candle is not just a light (the only one in the scene actually), but one of the protagonists since it makes the scene visible in the main details suggesting volumes and feelings.
Thanks to the candle in fact, the scene is warmer, intimate and the feelings are amplified
The basket is empty, but the old lady is still carrying it like to suggest once more her humble status and a life of sacrifices
Discover more on the Two Women with a Candle!