The Union of Earth and Water

Painting by Peter Paul Rubens

The Union of Earth and Water

Artist	Peter Paul Rubens
Year	c. 1618
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	222.5 cm × 180.5 cm (87.6 in × 71.1 in)
Location	Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg

The Union of Earth and Water is a Baroque painting by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens, showing Cybele as the personification of earth holding the horn of plenty and Neptune as the personification of water in the center. ^[1] The pair is crowned by the goddess Victoria and the union is heralded through a conch by the Triton below.^[1] The union symbolizes fertility, wealth and prosperity, specifically the city of Antwerp and the river Scheldt whose mouth in Rubens' times was blocked by the Dutch depriving Flanders of the access to the sea.^[1] The painting features a pyramidal composition, symmetry and the balance of forms. It was influenced by late Italian Renaissance, particularly by Venetian artists.^[1]

A smaller copy of the painting made in the Rubens' workshop was owned by the Russian businessman Vladimir Logvinenko. Following the abolition of a thirty per cent import duty on artworks in 2004, Logvinenko brought the copy from London to Moscow.^[2]

Provenance

The painting is housed in the Rubens Hall of the Hermitage Museum, in Saint Petersburg. Previously it had been in the Chigi Collection in Rome from which it was acquired by the Hermitage Museum between 1798 and 1800.

The Union of Earth and Water on a Soviet postage stamp, 1977

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Союз Земли и Воды" (in Russian). Hermitage Museum. Retrieved 9 Aug 2015.
^ Максим Кашулинский (3 Sep 2005). "И Спас, и Рубенс". Forbes (in Russian). Retrieved 9 Aug 2015.

Peter Paul Rubens

Paintings
and drawings

The Descent from the Cross (Siegen; 1600–1602)
Leda and the Swan (1601, 1602)
The Deposition (1602)
Self-Portrait in a Circle of Friends from Mantua (1602–1605)
Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Lerma (1603)
Portrait of a Young Woman (1603)
Hercules and Omphale (1603)
Heraclitus and Democritus (1603)
Virgin and Child (c. 1604)
The Fall of Phaeton (c. 1604/1605)
The Baptism of Christ (1604–1605)
The Gonzaga Family in Adoration of the Holy Trinity (1604–1605)
Transfiguration (1604–1605)
The Circumcision (1605)
Portrait of Marchesa Brigida Spinola-Doria (1606)
Portrait of Maria di Antonio Serra (1606)
Portrait of a Noblewoman with an Attendant (1606)
Portrait of Giovanni Carlo Doria on Horseback (1606)
Madonna della Vallicella (1606–1608)
Susanna and the Elders (1607)
The Head of Saint John the Baptist Presented to Salome (c. 1609)
Adoration of the Magi (Madrid; 1609 and 1628–29)
Samson and Delilah (1609–1610)
Honeysuckle Bower (1609–1610)
Coronation of the Virgin (1609–1611)
Juno and Argus (1610)
Raising of the Cross (1610–1611)
Conversion of Saint Paul (London; 1610–1612)
Massacre of the Innocents (c. 1611)
Venus Frigida (1611)
Prometheus Bound (1611–1612)
The Four Philosophers (1611–1612)
Antwerp Resurrection (1611–1612)
Visitation (c. 1611–1615)
Roman Charity (1612)
Ecce Homo (1612)
Descent from the Cross (Antwerp; 1612–1614)
Saint Teresa of Ávila's Vision of the Holy Spirit (Rotterdam; 1612–1614)
Saint Teresa of Ávila's Vision of the Holy Spirit (Cambridge; c. 1614)
The Tribute Money (1612–1614)
The Defeat of Sennacherib (1612–1614)
The Four Continents (1610s)
Christ Giving the Keys to Saint Peter (1612–1614)
Portrait of a Commander (1613)
The Crowning of the Virtuous Hero (1613–1614)
The Incredulity of Saint Thomas (1613–1615)
The Death of Adonis (1614)
Venus and Adonis (1614)
St Sebastian (c. 1614)
The Virgin Mary and Saint Francis Saving the World from Christ's Anger (c. 1614)
Madonna della Cesta (1615)
Ixion, King of the Lapiths, Deceived by Juno, Who He Wished to Seduce (1615)
Daniel in the Lions' Den (1615)
Bacchanalia (c. 1615)
A Statue of Ceres (c. 1615)
The Hippopotamus and Crocodile Hunt (1615–1616)
The Tiger Hunt (1615–1616)
Theodosius and Saint Ambrose (1615–1616)
The Wild Boar Hunt (1615-1617)
Florence Resurrection (1616)
The Virgin and Child Surrounded by the Holy Innocents (1616)
Erichthonius Discovered by the Daughters of Cecrops (c. 1616)
The Wolf and Fox Hunt (c. 1616)
The Lion and Leopard Hunt (c. 1616)
Romulus and Remus (1615–1616)
Saint Stephen Triptych (1616–1617)
Two Women with a Candle (1616–1617)
Descent from the Cross (Lille; 1616–1617)
The Meeting Between Abraham and Melchizedek (1616–1617)
Christ and the Penitent Sinners (1617)
Mars and Rhea Silvia (1617)
The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man (1617)
The Great Last Judgement (1617)
A Bearded Man (c. 1617–18)
Adoration of the Magi (Lyon; 1617–1618)
The Five Senses (1617–1618)
Two Satyrs (1618)
Medusa (1618)
The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus (c. 1618)
Christ Triumphant over Sin and Death (c. 1618)
The Prodigal Son (1618)
The Union of Earth and Water (c. 1618)
Tigress with Her Cubs (attributed; 1618)
Mucius Scaevola before Lars Porsenna (c. 1618–1620)
Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee (1618–1620)
The Wild Boar Hunt (1618-1620)
St Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy (1619–1620)
The Small Last Judgement (1619)
Conversion of Saint Paul (1620s)
The Fall of the Damned (c. 1620)
Landscape with Philemon and Baucis (c. 1620)
Portrait of a Young Man in Armor (c. 1620)
Saint George and the Dragon (c. 1620)
Perseus Freeing Andromeda (1620)
Saints Dominic and Francis Saving the World from Christ's Anger (1620)
The Rape of Orithyia by Boreas (1620)
Christ on the Cross (1620)
The Three Graces (Florence; 1620–1623)
Isabella Brant (c. 1621)
The Lion Hunt (1621)
Marie de' Medici cycle (1621–1630)
Portrait of Susanna Lunden (1622)
Perseus and Andromeda (c. 1622)
The History of Constantine (1622–1625)
Self-Portrait (1623)
The Conversion of Saint Bavo (1623–1624)
Diana and Her Nymphs Leaving for the Hunt (1623–1624)
Adoration of the Magi (Antwerp; 1624)
The Reconciliation of Esau and Jacob (1624)
Christ Appointing Saint Roch as Patron Saint of Plague Victims (1623–1626)
Portrait of Infante Isabella Clara Eugenia (1625)
Portrait of George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham (c. 1625)
Assumption of the Virgin Mary (1625–1626)
Angelica and the Hermit (c. 1626–1628)
Henry IV at the Battle of Ivry (1627)
The Triumphal Entry of Henry IV into Paris (1627)
The Annunciation (1627–1628)
The Fall of Man (1628–1629)
The Rape of Europa (1628–1629)
Minerva Protecting Peace from Mars (1629–1630)
Cimon and Pero (1630)
Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata (c. 1630)
The Crowning of Saint Catherine (1631)
The Ildefonso Altarpiece (1630–1631)
Last Supper (1630–1631)
Odysseus on the Island of the Phaecians (1630–1635)
The Finding of Erichthonius (1632–1634)
The Rainbow Landscape (Saint Petersburg; 1632–1635)
The Garden of Love (c. 1633)
Adoration of the Magi (Cambridge; 1634)
Bathsheba at the Fountain (c. 1635)
The Dance of the Villagers (1635)
Helena Fourment with Her Son Frans (1635)
Venus and Adonis (New York; 1635)
The Triumph of the Church (1635)
The Feast of Venus (1635–1636)
The Feast of Herod (1635–1638)
The Village Fête (1635–1638)
Mercury and Argus (1635–1638)
Hercules's Dog Discovers Purple Dye (c. 1636)
Helena Fourment with Children (1636)
A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning (1636)
Saturn (1636)
The Rainbow Landscape (London; 1636)
Pallas and Arachne (1636–1637)
Het Pelsken (1636–1638)
The Birth of the Milky Way (c. 1637)
Consequences of War (c. 1638)
Hercules in the Garden of the Hesperides / Deianira Listens to Fame (1638)
The Three Graces (Madrid; 1636–1638)
The Rape of Ganymede (1636–1638)
Diana and Callisto (1637–1638)
Helena Fourment with a Carriage (1638)
Self-Portrait (Vienna; 1638–1639)
Bacchus (1638–1640)
The Rape of the Sabine Women (1639–1640)
The Peasants Returning From The Fields (1640)
The Rainbow Landscape (Munich; 1640)
Judgment of Paris (various)