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PETER PAUL RUBENS (1577-164o)
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See also:PETER See also:PAUL See also:RUBENS (1577-164o)
, Flemish painter, was See also:born at See also:Siegen, in See also:Westphalia, on the 29th of See also:June 1577., His See also:father, Johannes See also:Rubens, a druggist, although of humble descent was a See also:man of learning, and councillor and See also:alderman in his native See also:town (1562)
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A See also:Roman See also:Catholic by See also:birth, he became a zealous upholder of the See also:Reformation, and we find him spoken of as le plus docte Calviniste qui lust pour lors au Bas Pays
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After the plundering of the See also:Antwerp churches in 1566, the magistrates were called upon for a See also:justification
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While openly they declared themselves devoted sons of the See also: He was an excellent Latin See also:scholar, and also proficient in See also:French, See also:Italian, Spanish, See also:English, See also:German and Dutch . See also:Part of his boyhood he spent as a See also:page in the See also:household of the countess of See also:Lalaing, in See also:Brussels; but tradition adds that his mother allowed him to follow his proper vocation, choosing as his See also:master Tobias Verhaecht . Not the slightest trace of this first master's See also:influence can be detected in Rubens's See also:works . Not so with See also:Adam Van Noort, to whom the See also:young man was next apprenticed . Van Noort, whose aspect of See also:energy is well known through Van Dyck's beautiful See also:etching, was the highly esteemed master of numerous painters—among them Van Balen, See also:Sebastian Vrancx, and See also:Jordaens, later his son-in-See also:law . Rubens remained with Van Noort for the usual See also:period of four years, thereafter studying under See also:Otto Vaenius or Van Veen, a See also:gentleman by birth, a most distinguished Latin scholar and a painter of very high repute . He was a native of See also:Leiden, and only recently settled in Antwerp . Though Rubens never adopted his See also:style of See also:painting, the tastes of master and See also:pupil had much in See also:common, and some pictures by Otto Vaenius can be pointed out as having inspired Rubens at a more advanced period . For example, the " Magdalene See also:anointing See also:Christ's Feet," painted for the See also:cathedral at See also:Malaga, and now at the Hermitage in St See also:Petersburg, closely resembles in See also:composition the very important See also:work of Otto Vaenius in the church'at See also:Bergues near See also:Dunkirk . In 1598, Adam Van Noort acting as See also:dean of the Antwerp gild of painters, Rubens was officially recognized as " master " —that is, was allowed to work independently and receive pupils . His style at this See also:early period may be judged from the by no means satisfactory " See also:Holy Trinity " at Antwerp Museum, which already shows his bold, vigorous handling, and the " Portrait of a Youth " in the See also:Munich Pinakothek . From 1600 to the latter part of 16o8 Rubens belonged to the household of Vincenzo See also:Gonzaga, duke of See also:Mantua . The duke, who spent some time at See also:Venice in See also:July 1600, had his See also:attention See also:drawn by one of his courtiers to Rubens's See also:genius, and immediately induced him to enter his service . The influence of the master's stay at Mantua was of extreme importance, and cannot be too constantly kept in view in the study of his later works . Sent to See also:Rome in 16or, to take copies from See also:Raphael for his master, he was also commissioned to paint several pictures for the church of See also:Santa Croce, by the See also:archduke Albrecht of See also:Austria, See also:sovereign of the Spanish See also:Netherlands, and once, when he was a See also:cardinal, the titular of that see . A copy of " See also:Mercury and See also:Psyche " after Raphael is preserved in the museum at Pesth . The religious paintings— " The Invention of the See also:Cross,'" The Crowning with Thorns " and " The Crucifixion "—are to be found in the See also:hospital at See also:Grasse in See also:Provence (Alper Maritimes) . At the beginning of 1603, " The See also:Fleming," as he was termed at Mantua, was sent to See also:Spain with a variety of presents for Philip III. and his See also:minister the duke of See also:Lerma, and thus had opportunity to spend a whole year at See also:Madrid and become acquainted with some of See also:Titian's masterpieces . Of his own works, known to belong to the same period, in the Madrid See also:Gallery, are " Heraclitus " and "See also:Democritus." Of Rubens's abilities so far back as 1604 we get a more See also:complete See also:idea from an immense picture now in the Antwerp Gallery, the " See also:Baptism of Our See also:Lord," originally painted for the See also:Jesuits at Mantua . Here it may be seen to what degree Italian surroundings had influenced the household painter of Vincenzo Gonzaga . Vigorous to the extreme in See also:design, he reminds us of See also:Michelangelo as much as any of the degenerate masters of the Roman school while in decorative skill he seems to be descended from Titian and in colouring from Giulio Romano . Equally with this picture, " The Transfiguration," now in the museum at See also:Nancy, and the portraits of " Vincenzo and his See also:Consort, kneeling before the Trinity," in the library at Mantua, claim a large See also:share of attention . Two years later we meet a very large See also:altar-piece of " The See also:Circumcision " at St Ambrogio at See also:Genoa, the " Virgin in a See also:Glory of Angels," and two See also:groups of See also:Saints, painted on the See also:wall, at both sides of the high altar in the church of Santa Maria in Valicella in Rome . These works remind us of a saying of Baglione, who was acquainted with Rubens in See also:Italy: Apprese egli buon gusto, e diede in una maniera buona Italiana .
While employed at Rome in 16o8, Rubens received most alarming See also:news as to the See also:state of his mother's See also:health
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The duke of Mantua was then absent from Italy, but the dutiful son, without awaiting his return, at once set out for the Netherlands
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When he arrived in Antwerp, Maria Pypelincx was no more
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However strong his wish might now be to return to Italy, his purpose was overruled by the See also:express See also:desire of his sovereigns, Albrecht and See also:Isabella, to see him take up a permanent residence in the Belgian provinces
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On the 3rd of See also:August 16(39 Rubens was named painter in See also:ordinary to their Highnesses, with a See also:salary of 500 livres, and " the rights, honours, privileges, exemptions," &c., belonging to persons of the royal household, not to speak of the See also:gift of a See also:gold See also:chain
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Not least in importance for the painter was his complete exemption from all the regulations of the gild of St See also:Luke, entitling him to engage any pupils or See also:fellow-workers without being obliged to have them enrolled —a favour which has been of considerable trouble to the historians of Flemish See also:art
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Although so recently returned to his native See also:land, Rubens seems to have been, with one See also:accord, accepted by his See also:country-men as the See also:head of their school, and the See also:municipality was foremost in giving him the means of proving his acquirements
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The first in date among the numerous repetitions of the " See also:Adoration of the Magi " is a picture in the Madrid Gallery, measuring 12 ft. by 17, and containing no fewer than eight-and-twenty See also:life-See also:size figures, many in gorgeous attire, warriors in See also:steel See also:armour, horsemen, slaves, camels, &c
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This picture, painted in Antwerp, at the town's expense, in 1609, had scarcely remained three years in the town See also: Many pictures have made us See also:familiar with the graceful young woman who was for seventeen years to share the master's destinies . We meet her at the See also:Hague, St Petersburg, See also:Berlin, See also:Florence, at Grosvenor See also:House, but more especially at Munich, where Rubens and his wife are depicted at full length on the same See also:canvas . " His wife is very handsome," observes See also:Sir See also:Joshua See also:Reynolds, "and has an agreeable countenance;" but the picture, he adds, " is rather hard in manner." This, it must be noted, is the See also:case with all those pictures known to have immediately followed Rubens's return, when he was still dependent on the assistance of painters trained by others than himself . Even in the " Raising of the Cross," now in the Antwerp cathedral, and painted for the church of St Walburga in 16ro, the dryness in outline is very striking . According to the See also:taste still at that time prevailing, the picture is tripartite, but the wings only serve to develop the central composition, and add to the See also:general effect . In Witdoeck's beautiful See also:engraving the partitions even disappear . Thus, from the first, we see Rubens quite determined upon having his own way, and it is recorded that, when he paintedthe " Descent from the Cross," " St See also:Christopher," the subject chosen by the Arquebusiers, was altered so as to bring the See also:artistic expressions into better accordance with his views . Although the subject was frequently repeated by the See also:great painter, this first " Descent from the Cross " has not ceased to be looked upon as his masterpiece . Begun in 1611, the celebrated work was placed in 1614, and certainly no more striking See also:evidence could be given of the rapid growth of the author's abilities . Rubens received 2400 florins for this picture . In many respects, Italian influence remains conspicuous in the " Descent from the Cross." Rubens had seen See also:Ricciarelli's See also:fresco at the Trinita de' Monti, and was also acquainted with the grandiose picture of Baroccio in the cathedral of See also:Perugia, and no one conversant with these works can See also:mistake their influence . But in Rubens strength of See also:personality could not be overpowered by See also:reminiscence; and in type, as well as in colouring, the " Descent from the Cross " may be termed thoroughly Flemish and Rubenesque .
If Sir See also:Dudley See also:Carleton could speak of Antwerp in 1616 as Magna civitas, magna solitudo, there was no See also:place nevertheless which could give a wider See also:scope to artistic enterprise
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Spain and the See also:United Provinces were for a time at See also:peace; almost all the churches had been stripped of their adornments; monastic orders were powerful and richly endowed, See also:gilds and corporations eager to show the fervour of their Catholic faith, now that the " See also:monster of See also:heresy " seemed for ever quelled
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See also:Gothic churches began to be decorated according to the new See also:fashion adopted in Italy
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Altars magnified to monuments, sometimes reaching the full height of the vaulted roof, displayed, between their See also:twisted columns, pictures of a size hitherto unknown
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No master seemed better fitted to be associated with this kind of painting than Rubens
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The See also:temple erected by the See also:reverend fathers in Antwerp was almost entirely the painter's work, and if he did not, as we often find asserted, design the front, he certainly was the inspirer of the whole See also:building
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Hitherto no Fleming had undertaken to paint ceilings with foreshortened figures, and blend the religious with the decorative art after the style of those buildings which are met with in Italy, and owe their decorations to masters like Titian, Veronese and See also:Tintoretto
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No fewer than See also:forty See also:ceiling-panels were composed by Rubens, and painted under his direction in the space of two years
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All were destroyed by See also:fire in 1718
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Sketches in See also:water-See also:colour were taken some time before the disaster by de.Wit, and from these were made the etchings by Du See also:Pont which alone enable us to See also:form a See also:judgment of the grandiose undertaking
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In the Madrid Gallery we find a general view of the church in all its splendour
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The present church of St See also:
Rubens delighted in undertakings of the vastest kind
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" The large size of a picture," he writes to W
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See also:Trumbull in 1621, " gives us painters more courage to represent our ideas with the utmost freedom and semblance of reality
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.
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. I confess myself to be, by a natural See also:instinct, better fitted to execute works of the largest size." The correctness of this appreciation he was very soon called upon to demonstrate most strikingly by a See also:series of twenty-four pictures, illustrating the life of See also:Marie de Medicis, See also:queen-mother of See also:France
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The gallery at the Luxembourg See also:Palace, which these paintings once adorned, has long since disappeared, and the complete work is not exhibited in the Louvre
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Drawings, it seems, had been asked from Quentin Varin, the French master who incited Poussin to become a painter, but Rubens was ultimately preferred
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This preference may in some degree be ascribed to his former connexion with the See also:court at Mantua, Marie de Medicis and the duchess of Gonzaga being sisters
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From the See also:cradle to the See also:day of her reconciliation with See also:
But the master himself spent much time in See also:Paris, retouching the whole work, which was completed within less than four years
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On the 13th of May 1625, Rubens writes from Paris to his friend Peiresc that both the queen and her son are highly satisfied with his paintings, and that Louis XIII. came on purpose to the Luxembourg, " where he never has set See also:foot since the palace was begun sixteen or eighteen years ago." We also gather from this letter that the picture representing the " Felicity of the Regency " was painted to replace another, the " Departure of the Queen," which had caused some offence
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See also:Richelieu gave himself some trouble to get part of the work, intended to represent the life of See also: He penetrates into the spirit of his subjects more deeply than, at first sight, seems consistent with his prodigious facility in execution . The " See also:Massacre of the Innocents," in the Munich Gallery, is a composition that can leave no See also:person unmoved—mothers defending their children with nails and See also:teeth . When St See also:Francis attempts to shelter the universe from the Saviour's wrath (Brussels Gallery), Rubens recalls to our memory that most dramatic passage of the Iliad when See also:Hecuba, from the walls of See also:Troy, entreats her son See also:Hector to spare his life . Rubens was a man of his time; his studies of Italian art in no way led him back to the Quattrocentisti nor the Raffaeleschi; their power was at an end . The influence of Michelangelo, Titian, Tintoretto, more especially Baroccio, Polidoro, and even See also:Parmigiano, is no less visible with him than with those masters who, like Spranger, C . Schwartz and See also:Goltzius, stood high in public estimation immediately before his See also:advent . In the midst of the rarest activity as a painter, Rubens was now called upon to give proofs of a very different kind lands in 1609 ended in 1621; Archduke Albrecht died the same year . His widow sincerely wished to prolong the arrangement, still hoping to see the United Provinces return to the Spanish dominion, and in her eyes Rubens was the fittest person to bring about this conclusion . The painter's comings and goings, however, did not remain unheeded, for the French See also:ambassador writes from Brussels in 1624—" Rubens is here to take the likeness of the prince of See also:Poland, by See also:order of the infanta . I am persuaded he will succeed better in this than in his negotiations for the truce." But, if Rubens was to fail in his efforts to bring about an arrangement with the Netherlands, other events enabled him to render great service to the state . Rubens and See also:Buckingham met in Paris in 1625; a See also:correspondence of some importance had been going on between the painter and the Brussels court, and before long it was See also:pro-posed that he should endeavour to bring about a final arrangement between the Crowns of See also:England and Spain . The infanta willingly consented, and King Philip, who much objected to the interference of an artist, gave way on See also:hearing, through his aunt, that the negotiator on the English See also:side, Sir Balthasar Gerbier—a Fleming by birth—was likewise a painter . 
Rubens and Gerbier very soon met in See also: |