The Fur or The Pelt (Dutch: Het Pelsken), also called The Little Fur (German: Das Pelzchen; French: La Petite Pelisse), or Helena Fourment in a Fur Robe, is a portrait by Peter Paul Rubens of his second wife Helena Fourment getting out of her bath and wrapping her voluptuous body in a fur. It is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
In this life-size portrait of Helena Fourment at the age of eighteen; her figure is wrapped only in a short mantle of black fur, loosely gathered round her shoulders and hips. Helena is represented standing, coming from the bath,ÃÂ halfÃÂ wrappedÃÂ inÃÂ theÃÂ fur-trimmedÃÂ cloakÃÂ thatÃÂ givesÃÂ itsÃÂ nameÃÂ toÃÂ the picture, and imperfectlyÃÂ hidesÃÂ herÃÂ nudity. TheÃÂ headÃÂ is turnedÃÂ toÃÂ theÃÂ spectator,ÃÂ and according to ÃÂmile Michel "theÃÂ countenanceÃÂ exhibitsÃÂ noÃÂ signÃÂ ofÃÂ embarrassment orÃÂ shame." Her breasts are pressed together and raisedÃÂ upÃÂ by her rightÃÂ arm;ÃÂ herÃÂ small, shapelyÃÂ leftÃÂ handÃÂ holds upÃÂ aÃÂ foldÃÂ ofÃÂ theÃÂ thick pelisseÃÂ over her belly.
Her pose recalls the Venus pudica () of Graeco-Roman sculpture, in which the goddess is shown nude as she prepares to bathe, discarding her drapery with one hand, while modestly shielding herself with the other. Another antecedent is Titian's Girl in a Fur, which Rubens knew. He even made a copy of the Titian, having seen it in the collection of Charles I in England. The execution of contrasting soft white flesh and rich dark fur has been praised in both paintings. Michel writes of this effect in the Rubens picture, "The frankÃÂ blackÃÂ ofÃÂ theÃÂ pelisse, theÃÂ redÃÂ ofÃÂ theÃÂ carpet,ÃÂ and the brown of the background set off theÃÂ brownÃÂ ofÃÂ theÃÂ background set off the brilliance of the flesh-tints".
Unlike Titian, who idealises his figure, Rubens depicts dimpled knees and folds of flesh and combines classicism with realism. Michel sees this as a fault, and writes, "TheÃÂ portraitÃÂ isÃÂ tooÃÂ exact, for inelegant forms are faithfullyÃÂ copied.ÃÂ The fleshÃÂ lacksÃÂ itsÃÂ former firmness,ÃÂ andÃÂ clearÃÂ traces ofÃÂ theÃÂ compressionÃÂ ofÃÂ the bodice on the torso,ÃÂ and ofÃÂ theÃÂ gartersÃÂ onÃÂ theÃÂ legs withÃÂ theirÃÂ tooÃÂ perceptible knee-pans may be detected." However, other critics have praised this quality in Rubens; as Andrew Morrall notes, "Neither simply a portrait nor purely an image of a mythological deity, this intensely private work has ironically become one of the most celebrated erotic images in Western art."
According to art historian Louis Hourticq, Rubens was too much in love with his young wife to hesitate to celebrate her beauty in his art. He surprised her one day on the way to her bath, and she yielded to her husband's fancy for painting her as she was. She would be quite naked but for the fur mantle thrown across her shoulders, which she holds in place with a charm. A tradition reported by Michel says that after Rubens died Madame Rubens hesitated to offer some of his pictures for sale, and a special clause in his will gave The Little Fur Coat to her as a personal gift.