Several other pictures by Rubens at the Louvre—all of them
portraits—are more or less directly connected with the Médicis series,
and were painted between 1621 and 1625. These are the _Portrait of
Anne of Austria_ (No. 2112), which was formerly known as _Elizabeth of
Bourbon_; the _Portrait of Francesco de’ Medici_ (No. 2106), Grand Duke
of Tuscany, and father of Marie de Médicis, which was painted for the
Luxembourg Gallery; the _Portrait of Johanna of Austria_ (No. 2107),
daughter of the Emperor Ferdinand, and wife of Francesco de’ Medici;
the _Portraits of Marie de Médicis_ (Nos. 2108 and 2109) (the former in
the character of Bellona, and both studio works with the final touches
added by the master); and the _Portrait of Baron Henri de Vicq_ (No.
2111), who, as Flemish Ambassador to the French Court, was instrumental
in procuring Rubens the important commission for the Luxembourg
pictures. This admirable portrait was bought at the King of Holland’s
sale in 1850 for £637.
To the same period belongs the beautiful _Portrait of Susanne Fourment_
(Rubens’s handsome, large-eyed sister-in-law, whose features are best
known from the _Chapeau de Paille_ at the National Gallery), which
is still officially catalogued as _Portrait of a Lady of the Boonen
Family_ (No. 2114); and the important composition _Lot’s Flight from
Sodom_ (No. 2075), which bears the rare full signature and date