Original works of art

Born in Westphalia in 1577, Peter Paul Rubens was to become the most important and influential artist of his time, creating canvasses for a wealthy and admiring public, including the royal families of England, Spain and Italy. Rubens’ works may be divided into altarpieces, history and mythological scenes, portraits and landscapes, but he also designed tapestries, book illustrations and pageant illustrations, and smaller sculptures. He had an immense studio with many assistants. Other artists were also acknowledged to paint certain elements in his work. Among them were Anthony van Dyck, Frans Snyders, Paul de Vos and Jan Fyt. Rubens sometimes only did the finishing touches to a composition.

Between 1616 and 1621, Rubens built himself a large house on the Wapper in Antwerp where he established his studio. Like his Renaissance predecessors, Rubens established a system whereby he could take advantage of the skills of his students and apprentices as well as those of artists who were more established in their own right. Depending upon the size and complexity of the composition, Rubens would often do a rapid sketch, with color notations. He would then do a small colored sketch, as well as draw important anatomical details. The large composition would then be handed over to others to complete, with the master reviewing the finished work, sometimes adding finishing touches.

Rubens epitomizes the northern baroque of the early seventeenth century, and indeed had a style of painting named after him, called Rubenisme. Rubens’ rise to fame in Antwerp and the rest of Europe was based on years of study and an extraordinary innate talent. He studied the works of the German masters, and Italian works in northern collections. Between 1600 and 1608, he worked in Italy for the Duke of Mantua, Vincenzo I Gonzaga, Rubens would have seen an encyclopedic collection of paintings. In 1608 he returned to Antwerp, which he made his home, and where he enjoyed great success.

Rubens traveled extensively and was very successful indeed. In 1628, for instance, he went to Madrid to paint portraits of the Spanish Royal Family of Philip IV. A diplomat as well as a painter, he then went to London to pursue diplomatic negotiations, and it was here that he painted “The Allegory of War and Peace,’ as well as the “Landscape with Saint George and the Dragon,’ paintings eventually owned by King Charles I.

Indeed, Charles I greatly admired his work and commissioned him to do a number of paintings, including the ceilings, “in situ” for the Banqueting House in Whitehall Palace (1629-1634). In 16tk, for instance, he was commissioned by Philip IV of Spain to paint over 100 scenes from Ovid’s “Metamorphoses,” for the king’s hunting lodge, the Torre de la Parada. One of the artists who collaborated on this project was Frans Snyders, who himself had Paul de Vos complete some of the work.