SIR PETER PAUL RUBENS (SIEGEN 1577 - ANTWERP 1640)
Milkmaids with cattle in a landscape, 'The Farm at Laken'
c.1617-18Oil on panel | 85.9 x 125.9 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 405333
This beautiful landscape acquired its title because the church in the background resembles one formerly at Laken near Brussels. It is more of an ideal composed group than a working farm, conveying the bounty and harmony of Nature: vegetables and fruit flow freely, the cows appear well fed, and all co-exist together happily under the watchful eye of the doves, symbols of Peace.