A rare oil sketch by Peter Paul Rubens, Cimon Falling in Love with Efigenia (c. 1616–17), now faces an export bar in a bid to retain the work for the UK. Valued at £8.4 million, the piece—a vibrant preparatory study for Rubens’ later painting in Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum—offers an intimate glimpse into the artist’s creative process.
The temporary export deferral, announced by Arts Minister Sir Chris Bryant, provides a crucial window for British institutions to secure the work. Measuring just 29.8 x 43.5 cm, the oil-on-panel sketch exemplifies Rubens’ dynamic handling of narrative and form, free from studio intervention. Its significance is heightened by its historic British ties, having once been admired by George Villiers, the first Duke of Buckingham, in his York House collection.
Rubens, the towering figure of the Flemish Baroque, infused his compositions with movement, sensuality, and psychological depth. This sketch, dating from his early career, captures a pivotal moment from Boccaccio’s Decameron, where the uncouth Cimon is transfixed by the sleeping Efigenia. The work’s unrestrained brushwork and exploration of the female nude make it a vital study for scholars and admirers alike.
Mark Hallett of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art (RCEWA) remarked:
*”Here, we witness Rubens in full creative ferment—testing compositions, reworking gestures, and reimagining classical narrative. Unlike his grand studio productions, this sketch is entirely his own, pulsating with immediacy. It’s loss would impoverish our understanding of 17th-century art.”*
The RCEWA’s recommendation cited the work’s “outstanding aesthetic importance” and its value to the study of Rubens’ preparatory techniques. The initial deferral expires on 15 September 2025, with a six-month extension possible if a serious bid emerges.”This is Rubens at his most inventive—a masterful sketch that deserves to be seen by the public. I urge UK collections to act.” – Sir Chris Bryant added:
The panel’s lineage traces to Jeremias Wildens, son of Rubens’ collaborator Jan Wildens, and passed through 19th-century British collections, including that of Baron Berwick. Currently in strong condition, its intimate scale belies its monumental impact.
Interested parties must contact the RCEWA by the stated deadline. For a nation that once revered Rubens through patrons like Buckingham, the stakes could not be higher.
Peter Paul Rubens: A Force of Nature
Few artists embodied the Baroque spirit like Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640). The Flemish master lived at full tilt—diplomat, scholar, and prolific painter whose workshop produced some of Europe’s most dynamic compositions.
Born in Germany to exiled Antwerp Protestants, Rubens trained under minor masters before a transformative eight-year Italian sojourn (1600–1608). There, he absorbed Titian’s colour, Michelangelo’s musculature, and Caravaggio’s drama—ingredients he’d later fuse into his own explosive style.
His return to Antwerp coincided with the Catholic Counter-Reformation’s demand for persuasive religious art. Rubens delivered. Works like The Descent from the Cross (1612–14) balanced theatrical piety with palpable humanity, while his Marie de’ Medici Cycle (1622–25) redefined political propaganda as high art.
The artist operated like a Renaissance CEO, maintaining a bustling studio where specialists (van Dyck, Snyders) executed his designs. Yet sketches like Cimon and Efigenia reveal his unmediated genius—fluid brushwork mapping creative decisions in real time.
Knighted by both Philip IV of Spain and Charles I of England, Rubens moved as easily in courts as in studios. His final decade saw quieter landscapes and intimate portraits, yet even these pulsed with his signature vitality. When gout stilled his hand in 1640, Europe lost not just a painter, but a cultural force.