Overview

Sir Peter Paul Rubens (28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist. He is considered the most influential artist of Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of classical and Christian history. His unique and immensely popular Baroque style emphasized movement, color, and sensuality, which followed the immediate, dramatic artistic style promoted in the Counter-Reformation. Rubens specialized in making altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects.
In addition to running a large studio in Antwerp that produced paintings popular with nobility and art collectors throughout Europe, Rubens was a classically educated humanist scholar and diplomat who was knighted by both Philip IV of Spain and Charles I of England. Rubens was a prolific artist. The catalogue of his works by Michael Jaffé lists 1,403 pieces, excluding numerous copies made in his workshop.

Career

• He went to Italy in 1600 and lived mainly in Venice and Rome as he studied the works Tintoretto and Titian among others. The Duke paid for his journey to Florence so that he could study traditional Roman art as well. Around this time, he painted the altar piece, titled ‘St. Helena with the True Cross’ at the Roman Church of Santa Croce, located in Jerusalem.
  
• After spending a year in Spain owing to a diplomatic visit, Peter Paul Ruben went back to Italy in 1604 and during his four year stay in the country he lived in Genoa, Mantua and Rome. During his stay in Italy he produced works like ‘Marchesa Brigida Spinola-Doria’ and portrait of Maria di Antonio Serra Pallavicini among others. Rubens was also commissioned to work on the high altar of Santa Maria church in Vallicella and that constituted one of the most important works in his career.
  
• He moved to Antwerp due to his mother’s ill health in 1609. The same year, the Archduke of Austria, Albert VII and Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain made Rubens their court painters. He established his studio in Antwerp, where he taught students and also employed a number of assistants. Some of the notable works of the period include ‘The Raising of the Cross’, ‘The Descent from the Cross’ and also produced prints of his works in collaboration with a noted publisher that further enhanced his reputation.
  
• From 1621 onwards, he was entrusted with diplomatic duties by the Halsburg rulers from Spain after he had been summoned to Paris by Marie de Medici, the Queen Mother of France to create paintings related to her life. Rubens painted the Marie de Medici Cycle and was also involved in gathering intelligence in his role as a diplomat. He also went to England in his role as a diplomat.
  
• Around 1630, Peter Paul Ruben went back to Antwerp and spent most of his time in completing commissions like the paintings on the ceiling of Banqueting House in Whitehall. During this decade, Rubens produced works like ‘The Feast of Venus’, ‘The Three Graces’ and ‘The Judgement of Paris’ that was commissioned by the Spanish royal family.

Legacy

We see the influence of Rubens in the prints of Picasso and Rembrandt, in the portraiture of Van Dyck, in the hunting scenes and devotional works of Delacroix, and in the landscapes of Constable and Gainsborough. It is a far reaching and remarkable legacy.

On View

• The Louvre, Paris
• Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
• Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
• J. Paul Getty Museum
• National Gallery of Art East Building, Washington D.C.
• Albertina, Vienna
• National Gallery, London
• Art Institute of Chicago
• Museo Nacional Del Prado, Madrid
• Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes
• Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon
• Stadel Museum, Frankfurt
• Capitoline Museums, Rome
• Germaldegalerie, Berlin
• Strada Nuova Museums
• British Museums, London
• Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia
• Walke Art Gallery, Liverpool
• Kunsthaus Zurich, Zurich
• Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto

ArtWorks

A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning

The painting depicts the landscape surrounding the artist’s estate Het Steen near Antwerp but it also includes his manor, a cart and a hunter. The masterpiece, which was finished around 1636, is today owned and displayed by the National Gallery (London) which acquired in the 1820s as a donation by Sir George Beaumont.

Consequences of War Horror of War

This painting is thought to symbolize the horrors of the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) which was at the time at full swing. Everything in the painting is somehow related to war and its destruction, with the Roman God of War, Mars being placed in the very center of the painting. Also depicted is the Roman Goddess of Love, Venus who strives to halt Mars and prevent war but their bodily positions and facial expressions reveal that her pleas are in vain.

Honeysuckle Bower

The painting was obviously inspired by the Biblical story of Samson and Delilah and depicts the moment when Delilah’s servant is cutting the hair of Samson while asleep in his lover’s lap. The painting also includes a mysterious old woman who perhaps symbolizes the future and Philistine soldiers waiting outside the room.

Massacre of the Innocents

Rediscovered in 2001 and sold for million at an auction one year later, the Massacre of the Innocents is the first of two Rubens’ paintings that were inspired by the same title Biblical story.

Samson and Delilah

The painting was obviously inspired by the Biblical story of Samson and Delilah and depicts the moment when Delilah’s servant is cutting the hair of Samson while asleep in his lover’s lap. The painting also includes a mysterious old woman who perhaps symbolizes the future and Philistine soldiers waiting outside the room.

The Assumption of the Virgin Mary

Like the title suggests, the central theme is the ascend of Virgin Mary into Heaven. The actual Assumption is depicted in the upper half of the painting, while the lower part portrays Mary’s empty tomb which is surrounded by the 12 disciples and 3 women who are though to represent Mary Magdalene and the Virgin’s two sisters.

The Descent from the Cross

The Descent from the Cross is the middle piece of The Elevation of the Cross, a triptych that was painted by Rubens for the Confraternity of the Arquebusiers for their altar at the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp. With the exception of a brief period in the late 18th and early 19th century, it has been located in the Antwerp’s Cathedral ever since.

The Disembarkation at Marseilles

One of the 21 paintings that constitute the so-called Marie de Medici Cycle depicts the arrival of Marie as the new Queen of France. She is portrayed disembarking a ship escorted by her sister and aunt as well as various mythological figures who guarded her on the way to Marseilles.

The Hippopotamus and Crocodile Hunt

It shows a group of hunters and hunting dogs attacking a hippopotamus and crocodile. Widely considered as one of the best Rubens’ works, the piece is also one of the prime examples of the artist’s mastery of drama, which is further highlighted by color, composition and texture.

The Origin of Milky Way

The painting, which measures 181cm × 244cm (71in x 96in), has been inspired by the Greco-Roman myth about the formation of the Milky Way and portrays Hera (Juno in Roman mythology) spilling her breast milk when pulling away from the baby Heracles (Hercules). The painting also includes Zeus (Jupiter) observing the scene in the background.