(Westfalia 1577- Antwerp 1640)
Petrus Paulus Rubens, Flemish painter of the 17th century and the most complete representative of the Baroque.
Rubens practiced all genres and was the main representative of Flemish painting in his century, to the point of decisively influencing sculpture, engraving, and decoration, in addition to painting.
Son of a councilman from Antwerp who had to leave his country for political reasons, he spent his childhood in Siegen and Cologne. After his father's death (1587), he returned to Antwerp. At the age of fourteen, he entered the workshop of his uncle by marriage, T. Verhaecht. With his second master, A. Van Noort, he acquired a good technical training; and with O. Van Veen (1596-1600) he prepared to undertake the traditional trip to Italy (1600).
In Venice, the work of Titian left an indelible mark on him. In Mantua, he entered the service of V. Gonzaga, copied Mantegna, and began his collection of antiquities.
In 1603, he made his first trip to Spain, and in Valladolid, where the court was at that time, he painted an equestrian portrait of the Duke of Lerma. Upon returning to Rome, he was drawn to Michelangelo, A. Carracci, and Caravaggio. His eclecticism is manifested in the Baptism of Christ and in the Transfiguration, which he painted in 1604 for the Gonzagas.
In Genoa (1607), he made grand portraits and admired the buildings to which he would later dedicate a publication, Palazzi di Genova, 1622.
An illness of his mother made him return to Antwerp. Back there, he was appointed court painter to Archdukes Albert and Isabella, and married Isabella Brandt (1609).
His true starting point is marked by the two triptychs of the Cathedral of Antwerp: The Elevation of the Cross and The Descent from the Cross. The latter work seals the union between the conquering Renaissance and traditional Flanders. The first manner of Rubens is characterized by the frankness of tones and the sharpness of outlines.
Situated at the crossroads of Northern realism and epic poetry, the art of Rubens exalts life in all its forms.
Between 1617 and 1618, he painted the series of six compositions with the History of Decius Mus, whose execution largely corresponds to Van Dyck. Rubens maintained excellent relations with the Society of Jesus, and in his Miracle of Saint Francis Xavier, Miracle of Saint Ignatius, The Lance… he shaped the ideas of the Counter-Reformation.
From 1622 to 1625, Rubens executed for the Luxembourg Gallery in Paris the 21 large compositions of the History of Marie de' Medici, in which reality, allegory, and mythology are imaginatively, sometimes declamatory, amalgamated, as in the sirens of the Landing in Marseille.
From 1627 to 1630, Rubens, having become an intimate advisor to Isabella Clara Eugenia, participated as a diplomat in the major political events of Europe. In 1628, he returned to Madrid, where he befriended Velázquez and painted nearly fifty canvases, including several copies of Titian.
By 1630, he married a sixteen-year-old girl, Helena Fourment, who became his favorite model. In these years, he painted the tapestry cartoons with the History of Achilles and the aforementioned decoration of Whitehall; shortly after, he acquired the lordship of Steen, in Elewyt, where he painted landscapes of tumultuous lyricism.
Among his last religious compositions, we must mention: The Way to Calvary and The Martyrdom of Saint Licinius. In some nudes, such as The Three Graces, Rubens appears as an heir to Titian, as a precursor to Fragonard and Renoir.
Petrus Paulus Rubens, Flemish painter of the 17th century and the most complete representative of the Baroque.
Rubens practiced all genres and was the main representative of Flemish painting in his century, to the point of decisively influencing sculpture, engraving, and decoration, in addition to painting.
Son of a councilman from Antwerp who had to leave his country for political reasons, he spent his childhood in Siegen and Cologne. After his father's death (1587), he returned to Antwerp. At the age of fourteen, he entered the workshop of his uncle by marriage, T. Verhaecht. With his second master, A. Van Noort, he acquired a good technical training; and with O. Van Veen (1596-1600) he prepared to undertake the traditional trip to Italy (1600).
In Venice, the work of Titian left an indelible mark on him. In Mantua, he entered the service of V. Gonzaga, copied Mantegna, and began his collection of antiquities.
In 1603, he made his first trip to Spain, and in Valladolid, where the court was at that time, he painted an equestrian portrait of the Duke of Lerma. Upon returning to Rome, he was drawn to Michelangelo, A. Carracci, and Caravaggio. His eclecticism is manifested in the Baptism of Christ and in the Transfiguration, which he painted in 1604 for the Gonzagas.
In Genoa (1607), he made grand portraits and admired the buildings to which he would later dedicate a publication, Palazzi di Genova, 1622.
An illness of his mother made him return to Antwerp. Back there, he was appointed court painter to Archdukes Albert and Isabella, and married Isabella Brandt (1609).
His true starting point is marked by the two triptychs of the Cathedral of Antwerp: The Elevation of the Cross and The Descent from the Cross. The latter work seals the union between the conquering Renaissance and traditional Flanders. The first manner of Rubens is characterized by the frankness of tones and the sharpness of outlines.
Situated at the crossroads of Northern realism and epic poetry, the art of Rubens exalts life in all its forms.
Between 1617 and 1618, he painted the series of six compositions with the History of Decius Mus, whose execution largely corresponds to Van Dyck. Rubens maintained excellent relations with the Society of Jesus, and in his Miracle of Saint Francis Xavier, Miracle of Saint Ignatius, The Lance… he shaped the ideas of the Counter-Reformation.
From 1622 to 1625, Rubens executed for the Luxembourg Gallery in Paris the 21 large compositions of the History of Marie de' Medici, in which reality, allegory, and mythology are imaginatively, sometimes declamatory, amalgamated, as in the sirens of the Landing in Marseille.
From 1627 to 1630, Rubens, having become an intimate advisor to Isabella Clara Eugenia, participated as a diplomat in the major political events of Europe. In 1628, he returned to Madrid, where he befriended Velázquez and painted nearly fifty canvases, including several copies of Titian.
By 1630, he married a sixteen-year-old girl, Helena Fourment, who became his favorite model. In these years, he painted the tapestry cartoons with the History of Achilles and the aforementioned decoration of Whitehall; shortly after, he acquired the lordship of Steen, in Elewyt, where he painted landscapes of tumultuous lyricism.
Among his last religious compositions, we must mention: The Way to Calvary and The Martyrdom of Saint Licinius. In some nudes, such as The Three Graces, Rubens appears as an heir to Titian, as a precursor to Fragonard and Renoir.
