DAY 264

PROFILES IN ART

Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)

PROPONENT OF BAROQUE, CATALYST OF DIPLOMACY

Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish Baroque painter of the highest caliber. An ardent enthusiast of Italian art, Rubens helped bridge the divide between the artistic realism of the North and the more sensual art of the South. Although Baroque originated in Rome, it was Rubens’s artistic contributions in the style that largely aided in its recognition on the international stage. His vast body of work consists of religious themes, mythology, portraits, and landscapes.

This tribute to Peter Paul Rubens stands near the Antwerp Cathedral of our Lady, which also houses some of the artist’s finest paintings.

Rubens was born in Germany during his family’s time in exile from Flanders. His father was a well-known Protestant and fled to escape religious persecution during Spanish rule. Following his father’s death a decade later, Rubens and his mother moved to Antwerp where the boy was well educated in Latin and classical literature, and raised a devout Catholic. He began training as an artist when he was only 14 years old.

In 1600, Rubens traveled to Italy where he remained for eight years studying sculpture and the masters of the High Renaissance. His exposure to the drama and intensity in Caravaggio’s and Annibale Carracci’s work profoundly impacted his own. He returned to Antwerp in 1608 at which time Albert and Isabella, the rulers of the Spanish Netherlands, appointed him the court painter; the position proved fruitful. Rubens actively served as a diplomat and received knighthoods from both Charles I of England and Philip IV of Spain. He married twice in his lifetime: first to Isabella Brant and then to 16-year-old Hélène Fourment, four years following Isabella’s death. —RJR

Notable works: The Holy Family with Saints Elizabeth and John the Baptist, 1615; Marie de’ Medici, Queen of France, Landing in Marseilles, 1623; The Garden of Love, 1634.