Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640): Height of Flemish Baroque Painting

Self-portrait 1623, Oil on canvas, 91.3 × 70.8 cm (35.94 × 27.87 in) National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Peter Paul Rubens is one of the outstanding figures of his time and embodies the exuberant Baroque style. The well-traveled painter merged Flemish traditions with Italian influences. Rubens emphasized movement, strength, sensuality, and pathos. He is well-known for his portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects.

In his works, large gestures and glowing colors merge, and the formats achieve monumental grandeur. Among his numerous colleagues were the most significant artists of southern Netherlands, such as Jan Brueghel the Elder and Jacob Jordaens. Anthony van Dyck became a brilliant portraitist of the European aristocracy.

The Hippopotamus and Crocodile Hunt (Nilpferdjagd) 1615-1616, oil on canvas 248 x 321 cm (97.6 x 126.4 in) Alte Pinakothek

The portraits of Rubens, van Dyck and Velazquez reflected the monarchs’ claims to power and in turn promoted the artists within their courts. Ceiling and mural paintings created breathtaking spaces within churches and the palaces of the aristocracy, celebrating the triumph of faith and glorifying the monarchs.

At a Sotheby’s auction on 10 July 2002, Rubens’ newly discovered painting Massacre of the Innocents sold for £49.5 million ($76.2 million) to Lord Thomson. It is a current record for an Old Master painting.

Rubens died from gout on 30 May 1640. He was interred in Saint Jacob’s church, Antwerp. The artist had eight children, three with Isabella and five with Hélène; his youngest child was born eight months after his death.

The Château de Steen with Hunter, c. 1635–8 (National Gallery, London)

Landscape with Cows and Wildfowlers c. 1630 Oil on panel, 113 x 176 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Europe’s kings and princes prized Peter Paul Rubens’ vibrant, colorful, and often voluptuous works, which included altarpieces and other religious pictures; portraits; hunt and mythological scenes.

Triumph and Taste: Peter Paul Rubens at the Ringling Museum of Art

The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida, possesses one of America’s premier and diverse collections of paintings by Rubens, including five extraordinary, full-scale painted models for the Triumph of the Eucharist tapestry series; Pausias and Glycera, created in collaboration with the flower painter Osias Beert; a painted sketch for a tapestry wittily depicting Achilles Dipped in the Styx; the tragic and brilliantly colored Departure of Lot and his Family from Sodom; and an exuberant, bravura portrait of the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, ruler of the Southern Netherlands.

This lavishly illustrated publication will introduce the artist and these outstanding works, shed new light on their meanings, functions, and facture, and share original perspectives on their provenance.

Rubens was a prolific artist. His commissioned works were mostly religious subjects, “history” paintings, which included mythological subjects, and hunt scenes. He painted portraits, especially of friends, and self-portraits, and in later life painted several landscapes.

Peter Paul Rubens, 1577-1640: The Homer of Painting

Combining typical Flemish realism with classical themes influenced by the Renaissance, Rubens caught the attention of all of Europe and helped put his native Antwerp on the map. His very profitable workshop of accomplished artists, one of whom was Van Dyck, completed over 2000 works under his supervision.

Peter Paul Rubens: The Drawings

For the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), drawing was a fundamental activity. Ranging from delightful renderings of children and elegant portraits of noblemen and women to vigorous animal studies and beautiful landscapes, Rubens’s drawings are renowned for their superb quality and variety.

The Virgin and Child Adored by Angels, 1608, oil on slate and copper. This is the central panel above the High Altar, Santa Maria in Vallicella, Rome.

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