Focus on this artwork and discuss the History.
The painting was acquired by his relative James Claypoole Copper, who later gave it to Rubens' daughter Mary Jane Peale (1827–1902), and the painting descended through the Peale family. It was sold to the art collector Lawrence A. Fleischman, and then before 1963 to Pauline E. Woolworth, wife of Norman Bailey Woolworth. In 1985 it was sold at Sotheby's to the National Gallery of Art, which paid $3.7 million (before buyer's premium). This set a record for an American work of art sold at auction, replacing Frederic Edwin Church's The Icebergs ($2.5 million).
National Gallery of Art Norman Bailey Woolworth Rubens Lawrence A. Fleischman Frederic Edwin Church The Icebergs