On 3rd October 1609 [her future husband] Peter Paul Rubens [aged 32] and Isabella Brant [aged 18] were married.
On 11th April 1614 Helena Forment was born.
1622-25. [her future husband] Peter Paul Rubens [aged 44]. Portrait of Susanna Lunden née Forment (1599–1628) formerly known as 'Le Chapeau de Paille' i.e. 'The Straw Hat', the older sister of Rubens' future second wife Helena Fourment [aged 7]. The painting being the inspiration for Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun's painting 'Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat',
In 1630 Peter Paul Rubens [aged 52] and Helena Forment [aged 15] were married. The difference in their ages was 36 years.
Around 1630. Jan Boeckhorst [aged 26]. Portrait of Helena Forment [aged 15].
Around 1630. [her husband] Peter Paul Rubens [aged 52]. Portrait of Helena Forment [aged 15] in her Wedding Dress.
1635. [her husband] Peter Paul Rubens [aged 57]. Portrait of Helena Forment [aged 20].
1635. [her husband] Peter Paul Rubens [aged 57]. Portrait of Helena Forment [aged 20] with her son Frans.
1636-1638. [her husband] Peter Paul Rubens [aged 58]. 'Helena Forment [aged 21] in a Fur Wrap'.
This is a translation of the 'Memoires of Jacques du Clercq', published in 1823 in two volumes, edited by Frederic, Baron de Reissenberg. In his introduction Reissenberg writes: 'Jacques du Clercq tells us that he was born in 1424, and that he was a licentiate in law and a counsellor to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in the castellany of Douai, Lille, and Orchies. It appears that he established his residence at Arras. In 1446, he married the daughter of Baldwin de la Lacherie, a gentleman who lived in Lille. We read in the fifth book of his Memoirs that his father, also named Jacques du Clercq, had married a lady of the Le Camelin family, from Compiègne. His ancestors, always attached to the counts of Flanders, had constantly served them, whether in their councils or in their armies.' The Memoires cover a period of nineteen years beginning in in 1448, ending in in 1467. It appears that the author had intended to extend the Memoirs beyond that date; no doubt illness or death prevented him from carrying out this plan. As Reissenberg writes the 'merit of this work lies in the simplicity of its narrative, in its tone of good faith, and in a certain air of frankness which naturally wins the reader’s confidence.' Du Clercq ranges from events of national and international importance, including events of the Wars of the Roses in England, to simple, everyday local events such as marriages, robberies, murders, trials and deaths, including that of his own father in Book 5; one of his last entries.
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On 30th May 1640 [her husband] Peter Paul Rubens [aged 62] died.
On 15th July 1673 Helena Forment [aged 59] died.