Peter Paul Rubens I INTRODUCTION Thetis Dipping Achilles in the Styx The sea nymph Thetis is seen dipping her son Achilles in the River Styx to make him immortal. Only the heel by which she holds him remains untouched by the waters and thus vulnerable to injury. This sketch in oil on board by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens was one of a series of designs for tapestries illustrating the history of Achilles. It is now in the Boymans-van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Francis G. Mayer/Corbis Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), Flemish painter, considered the most important of the 17th century, whose style came to define the animated, exuberantly sensuous aspects of baroque painting (see Baroque Art and Architecture). Rubens created a vibrant style that combined the bold brushwork, luminous color, and shimmering light of the Venetian school (represented by Titian and Paulo Veronese) with the vigor of the art of Michelangelo and the formal dynamism of ancient Greek sculpture from the Hellenistic Age. The energy in his work emanates from tensions between the intellectual and the emotional, the classical and the romantic. For more than two centuries after his death, the vitality and eloquence of his work continued to influence such artists as Jean-Antoine Watteau in the early 18th century and Eugène Delacroix and Pierre Auguste Renoir in the 19th century. II EARLY YEARS Rubens's father, Jan Rubens, was a prominent lawyer and Antwerp alderman who converted from Catholicism to Calvinism. In 1568 Jan Rubens left Flanders with his family to escape persecutions against Protestants. Peter Paul was born in exile in Siegen, Westphalia (now in Germany), also the birthplace of his brother Philip and his sister Baldina. In Westphalia, Jan Rubens became the adviser and lover of Princess Anna of Saxony, wife of Prince William I of Orange (William the Silent). When Jan Rubens died in 1587, his widow returned the family to Antwerp, where she and the children became Catholics. Peter Paul received an excellent education, studying the classics in a Latin school and serving as a court page. This education enabled him throughout his life to share the interests of classical scholars and archaeologists and even to contribute to their research. After he decided to become a painter, he apprenticed in turn with three minor Flemish painters (Tobias Verhaecht, Adam van Noort, and Otto van Veen) who had been influenced by 16th-century Mannerist artists of the Florentine-Roman school (see Mannerism). The young Rubens was as precocious a painter as he had been a scholar of classical antiquity and modern European languages (he spoke six). In 1598, at the age of 21, he was accorded the rank of master painter of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke. III RUBENS IN ITALY Rubens, Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Lerma In 1603 Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens traveled to Spain as part of a diplomatic mission. While there, he received a commission for this portrait of the Duke of Lerma, the powerful prime minister of Spanish king Philip III. The painting now hangs in the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain. The Prado Museum, Madrid/Archivo Fotografico Oronoz Shortly thereafter, following the example of many northern European artists of the period, Rubens traveled to Italy, the center of European art for the previous two centuries. In 1600 he arrived in Venice, where he was particularly inspired by the paintings of Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto. Later, while living in Rome, he was influenced by the works of Michelangelo and Raphael, as well as by ancient Greco-Roman sculpture. Vincenzo Gonzaga, the duke of Mantua, employed Rubens for about nine years. Rubens copied Renaissance paintings for the ducal collection, but he was also able to execute original works. In 1603 he served as the duke's emissary to King Philip III of Spain. During his years in Italy, Rubens was exposed to the early baroque works of contemporary Italian painters Annibale Carracci and Caravaggio, and he associated with some of the leading humanist intellectuals of the day. Gradually, the bourgeois Flemish painter became a gentleman artist of international repute. IV RETURN TO ANTWERP Christ on the Cross Christ on the Cross was painted by the 17th-century Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens in 1620, at the height of his career. The sense of movement, swirling line, and dramatic light are characteristic of Rubens's distinctive style. This painting is now part of the collection of the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp, Belgium. The New York Public Library It was news of his mother's impending death that brought Rubens back to Antwerp in 1608. Although he did not arrive in time to see his mother alive he remained in Antwerp, where he married Isabella Brant the following year. While in Italy, Rubens had formulated one of the first innovative expressions of the baroque style, which on his return earned him recognition as the foremost painter of Flanders. He was immediately employed by the burgomaster (mayor) of Antwerp. His success was further confirmed in 1609, when he was engaged as court painter to the Austrian archduke Albert and his wife, the Spanish princess Isabella, who together ruled the Low Countries as viceroys for the king of Spain. The number of pictures requested from Rubens was so large that he established an enormous workshop, in which he would execute the initial sketch and final touches while his apprentices completed all the intermediary steps. In addition to receiving court commissions from Brussels and abroad, the highly devout Rubens was much in demand by the militant Counter Reformation church of Flanders, which regarded his dramatic, emotionally charged interpretations of religious events--such as the Triptych of the Raising of the Cross (1610-1611, Antwerp Cathedral)--as effective instruments for spiritual recruitment and renewal. Prosperity allowed Rubens to build a residence in Antwerp in the style of an Italian palace, where he housed his extensive collection of art and antiquities. V DIPLOMATIC CAREER Henry IV Receives the Portrait of Marie de Médicis In 1599 the marriage between Henry IV of France and Margaret de Valois was annulled, and a year later Henry married Marie de Médicis, the daughter of Francesco, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Henry was assassinated in 1610, and Marie ruled as regent until her oldest son came of age. In 1620 she commissioned Peter Paul Rubens to paint a series of large allegorical paintings entitled The Life of Marie de Médicis. Rubens traveled to Paris to paint them (including this example) and they were hung in the Luxembourg Palace. They are now displayed in the Louvre, Paris. Giraudon/Art Resource, NY Between 1622 and 1630 Rubens's role as a diplomat was equal to his importance as a painter. In 1622 he visited Paris, where the French queen Marie de Médicis commissioned him to depict her life in a series of allegorical paintings for the Luxembourg Palace. He completed these paintings in 1625. Despite the keen loss Rubens felt after the death of his wife in 1626, he continued to be highly productive. In 1628 he was sent by the Flemish viceroys to Spain. Portrait of Marie de Médicis by Rubens Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens created this portrait of French queen Marie de Médicis in about 1622 while he was working on a series of allegorical paintings depicting events in her life. The portrait now hangs in the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain. Archivo Fotografico Oronoz While in Madrid, he received several commissions from King Philip IV of Spain, who made him secretary of his Privy Council. Rubens also served as a mentor to the young Spanish painter Diego Velázquez. After a delicate diplomatic mission to London in 1629, Rubens was knighted by a grateful King Charles I of England, for whom he executed several paintings, as well as the preliminary sketches (finished in Antwerp, 1636) for the ceiling mural in the Whitehall Palace Banqueting Hall. VI FINAL YEARS Judgment of Midas by Rubens According to Greek mythology, Midas, the king of Crete, judged a musical competition between the gods Apollo and Pan. When he awarded Pan the victory, the enraged Apollo turned Midas's ears into the ears of an ass. Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens created this depiction of the myth about 1634. Francis G. Mayer/Corbis From 1630, when he married Hélène Fourment, until his death, Rubens remained in Antwerp, primarily at Castle Steen, his country residence. During the final decade of his life, he continued to execute commissions for the Habsburg monarchs of Austria and Spain. Increasingly, he also painted pictures of personal interest, especially of his wife and children and of the Flemish countryside. Rubens's late style, and indeed the intentions of his entire career, are summed up in The Judgment of Paris (1635?, National Gallery, London). In this painting, the richness of creation is symbolized by the voluptuous goddesses and the verdant landscape against which they pose. Luxuriant color, glowing light and shade, sensuous brushwork, and an elegant composition all serve to further the meaning of the narrative: Paris's selection of the most beautiful goddess. Contributed By: Robert J. Loescher Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
