Public data from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Learn more
About the Artwork
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]) Nov. 12, 1930 - June 10, 1937: (Thos. Agnew & Sons, London). June 10, 1937 -: G. Huntington Hartford (1911-2008), New York. - May 15, 1972: (Newhouse Galleries, New York) May 15, 1972 - Feb. 13, 1973: (Thos. Agnew & Sons, London) Private collection 1979: (Thos. Agnew and Sons, London) 1980: Private collection, Portugal. 1983: (Sotheby's, London, sale, June 23, 1983, no. 40, ill.) 1983: (Newhouse Galleries, New York), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art.
Exhibition history
The Year in Review for 1983. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 22-April 8, 1984). Rubens and His Time. Museo de San Carlos (INBA) (November 5, 1998-February 28, 1999). Drawn by the Brush: Oil Sketches by Peter Paul Rubens. Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT (October 2, 2004-January 30, 2005); Berkeley Museum of Art/Pacific Film Archive, CA (March 2-May 22, 2005); The Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH (organizer) (June 11-September 11, 2005).
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640)
- Date
- c. 1639
- 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.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
- Accession no.
- 1983.69
More by Peter Paul Rubens in museum collections
The Feast of Herod (recto); Tomyris with the Head of Cyrus (verso)
Peter Paul Rubensc. 1637–38 · Drawing
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00009312
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