DOCSLIB.ORG

In the 17Th Century, the Holy Family Was Often Portrayed As a Simple Family, One of Humble, Country Folk

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
In the 17Th Century, the Holy Family Was Often Portrayed As a Simple Family, One of Humble, Country Folk In the 17th century, the Holy Family was often portrayed as a simple family, one of humble, country folk. The Counter-Reformation highlighted the Bible stories, showing that the characters involved were real people. For example, the ministries were painted using different models, almost constituting portraits. The aim was to reinforce the faith. This uncatalogued Holy Family1 that is the subject of our study manifests great solemnity at the same time as close intimacy, with elegance in the figures of the Virgin and Child and extraordinary simplicity in the portrayal of both Saint Joseph and St. Francis of Assisi, with the latter featuring only rarely in paintings of the Holy Family. In our Holy Family, the centre of the painting is occupied by the Virgin, wearing clothes in her traditional colours, a red robe with a blue cloak, a violet shawl, and a white blouse. The Virgin is smiling almost devotedly at her son, who is standing and embracing his mother’s left hand, as she supports him on her knees. To the right of the scene, St. Joseph is positioned slightly further back, being portrayed with a beard, while St. Francis of Assisi stands to the left, closer to the Child. His hand reveals the wounds of the stigmata. The dark background reveals a series of columns on their pedestals. The characters are standing in front of a building2. The vividly coloured clothing imbues our painting with considerable dynamism and an attractive brilliance and brightness. On the lower right-hand side of the painting in question here, there is a monogram consisting of greyish letters, crested by a princely crown. Our painting was restored some fifteen years ago3. Considering both its composition and the figures portrayed, together with its treatment of colour and its vigorous and brilliant technique, the painting under study here can clearly be attributed to Peter Paul Rubens and his workshop. 1 Oil, canvas, 126*97 cm. The painting has a 17th century frame (French or Flemish). Its provenance is Central Europe, and it was bought around 1900. 2 An ultraviolet study of the painting has revealed that the background is not so uniform, showing more space. 3 In my study of the painting, I have consulted Mr A. Fáy, whom I should like to thank for his assistance. During the restoration process the painting has lost some of the plasticity in its brushstrokes due to the use of a conservation adhesive, and the method of pressing used has meant that in some areas the surface paint as it was originally applied has been flattened somewhat, especially in the area of the body. The painting has been restored, and its colours are bright. There is some retouching on the left-hand side, on the Virgin’s blue cloak, her left elbow and her neck. As regards St. Joseph and St. Francis, the former’s head and the latter’s beard and neck areas are fairly intact, although there is some retouching everywhere else. The Child’s head has no retouching. There are pentimenti on the Child’s right foot and on the Virgin’s hand. The composition of our Holy Family is inspired by the Holy Family with Saint Anne by Rubens that hangs in the Prado Museum4. Our painting is a variation of the same theme. In this Holy Family, St. Francis of Assisi appears on the left-hand side instead of St. Anne. In terms of the composition itself, the Holy Family in the Prado Museum is more dynamic. The Holy Family in the Prado also gives the figures more space, the Virgin is showing her breast and the Child is naked. Our painting is also different in terms of the clothing; the Virgin’s breast is covered by her blouse, and the Child’s lower back is covered by a cloth5. As regards the positioning of the Virgin and Child, Rubens had already painted this same model on a panel6. Rubens’ paintings of the Holy Family can be dated to around 1630, and the figure of the Virgin in them is inspired by the master’s second wife, Helene Fourment, who he married precisely in 1630. She appears in certain Holy Families by Rubens that also feature St. Francis of Assisi, but the composition is different to the painting under study here: in one of them, St. Francis is portrayed on his knees, as in the Holy Family in Windsor, which Jaffé dates to 1626-287. Among the youthful works by Rubens there are some that show St. Francis’ stigmata, such as the one located on the left wing of the altar of Saint Gummarus, in Liege8. The drawing on our painting is fairly similar. There is also some similarity between our St. Francis and the depiction of the Saint’s head painted by Rubens9. Although it is not the same model, there are several likenesses between the two in terms of the high, raised forehead and the depiction of the nose. Ghent Museum has a St. Francis receiving the stigmata painted by Rubens and dated in 1633, which is likewise fairly similar to the painting we are studying here as regards the wrinkles on the Saint’s forehead and his strong hands. The model used in our painting for portraying St. Francis with a beard and high forehead is different to all the other models of St. Francis within the known work by Rubens, which suggests, and not unfoundedly so, that the model may have been the painting’s donor. 4 Prado Museum, Madrid, Inv no. 1639, o.1.115*90 cm. 5 Our painting and the one in the Prado have different canvases. The canvas on our painting is thinner, while the one in the Prado Museum is stronger and more structured. 6 The painting is reproduced in Rosenberg, A.: P.P. Rubens, des Meisters Gemälde, Stuttgart-Leipzig 1905, 167, oil on canvas, 96.5*72.5 cm. The painting’s whereabouts is not now known. 7 Jaffé, M.: Rubens. Catalogo completo, Milan 1989, no 881, variants of painting no. 1047, The Metropolitan Museum, New York, dating it to 1630-35, and no. 1048, of the Museum of Art, San Diego, California, 1630-32 8 Jaffé, op. cit. 1989, dates the triptych to around 1618-19. 9 Held, J.S.: Rubens, Selected Drawings, London 1959, II. No. 122, Frankfurt, Städelsches Kunstinstitut. The naturalism of the Saint’s face tells us that the model must have been closely related to the master, and may have been a Franciscan monk who was friendly with the painter. This aspect of the painting reveals a clear Italian influence, as a reminder of the years Rubens spent in Italy between 1600 and 1608. Rubens often painted the figure of St. Joseph, and we can see that the position of the Saint’s hand in the painting is the same as in the Holy Family with a parrot in the Koninklijk Museum10. The painting in question here is not mentioned in either the older monographs11 or in the more recent ones12, and not even in the Corpus Rubaniarum Ludwig Borchard, but it may be linked to a painting by Rubens that was auctioned in Vienna in 182013 from the Antón Wenzel von Kaunitz Collection. Wenzel Antón, Prince of Kaunitz-Rietberg, was an Austrian diplomat who was born on 2nd February 1711 in Vienna, where he also died on 27th June 1794. From 1741 onwards he was a diplomat in Rome, Florence and Turin. In 1744, Charles VI appointed him a minster in the Low Countries. After a highly successful career as a diplomat, he returned to Vienna in 1753, where he became Chancellor of State. In 1756, he returned to the Low Countries as foreign minister, an office that also included Lombardy. Following the Seven Years’ War, in 1764 he was granted the title of Reichsfürst (Prince of the Holy Roman Empire). During the reign of Maria Theresa he was an all-powerful statesman. A great collector, he admired science and art, while at the same time becoming the patron and founder of the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 1768, as well as of other art institutes. Following his death, the famous Wenzel Antón von Kaunitz collection remained in his family until 1820, when they held the first auction of his works in Vienna. Frimmel’s 1899 work Geschichte der Wiener Gemäldesammlungen involved a comprehensive study of the Kaunitz collection14, in which the author already mentions works by Rubens in the Kaunitz collection (e.g., “Boreas Abducting Oreithyia”, today in the Gallery of the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Vienna). In 1745 the painting belonged to the collection held by Verspecht, who was Ratsadvocat in Brussels, and at that time Spruyt made an engraving of it. This might well have been when Kaunitz bought the painting, as collecting had been one’s of his characteristic traits since his youth, possibly inherited from his grandfather Count Dominik Andreas Kaunitz (1655-1705), a consummate art expert and collector, who was sent on a diplomatic mission to the Netherlands, 10 Antwerp, Jaffé, M. op. cit. 1989, no. 913 dated to 1620-1628. 11 Smith, J.: Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of the most eminent Dutch and Flemish Painters, II Life and Works Peter Paul Rubens, London 1830, Rooses, M.: Geschichte der Malerschule Antwerpens: P.P. Rubens, 1881, Rosenberg, A.: P.P. Rubens. Des Meister Gemälde. Klassiker der Kunst, Stuttgart 1905. 12 Jaffé, op. cit. 1989. 13 Wurzbach, C. von: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich. Vienna 1864, XI. 70-86. 14 Frimmel, Th.von: Geschichte der Wiener Gemäldesammlungen. Erster Band.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Entombment, Peter Paul Rubens
    J. Paul Getty Museum Education Department Who's Afraid of Contemporary Art? Information and Questions for Teaching The Entombment, Peter Paul Rubens The Entombment Peter Paul Rubens Flemish, about 1612 Oil on canvas 51 5/8 x 51 1/4 in. 93.PA.9 Questions for Teaching Look at each character in this painting. Pay particular attention to the pose of the bodies, the facial expressions, and hand gestures. How does the body language of each figure communicate emotion and contribute to the narrative of the story? What do the background details tell you about the story? (In this case, the background details help to locate the story: the rock walls behind the figures, and the stone slab that supports Christ’s corpse show the event is taking place inside Christ’s tomb. Rubens crops the image closely, forcing the viewer to really focus on the emotion of the characters and the violence done to the body of Christ.) What characteristics of this 17th-century painting are similar to contemporary artist Bill Viola’s video installation Emergence (see images of the work in this curriculum’s Image Bank)? What characteristics of the two artworks are different? Peter Paul Rubens made this painting for an altarpiece inside a Catholic chapel. It was intended to serve as a meditational device—to focus the viewer’s attention on the suffering of Christ and inspire devotion. Pretend that you are not familiar with the religious story depicted in the painting. What kinds of emotional responses do you have to this work of art? What visual elements of the painting make you feel this way? Which artwork do you think conveys emotions better, Bill Viola’s Emergence or Peter Paul Rubens’s The Entombment? How does the medium of the artwork—painting or video—affect your opinion? Background Information In this painting, Peter Paul Rubens depicted the moment after his Crucifixion, when Christ is placed into the tomb before his Resurrection.
    [Show full text]
  • Thirty Years
    THE 30 YEARS WAR HSTEU302 Electors of the Holy Roman Empire Illuminated Manuscript Left column: Prince Bishops (with miter & sword) Europe around 1600 Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation: 300 separate principalities, plus 65 Free Imperial Cities (Reichstadt) & 2,000 Free Imperial Knights (Riechsritter) Hapsburg family territories, connected by road from Austria to the Netherlands GERMANY DURING THE 30 YEARS WAR Population losses in Germany 30 Years War 1618-1648 Etchings as early war reporting in 30 Years’ War Jacques Callot Conquest of a town Jacques Callot, The Miseries of War 1633 Jacques Callot Camp followers MARS and VENUS IMAGES OF WAR AND PEACE IN 17TH CENTURY PAINTING Theodore Rabb, The Struggle for Stability in Early Modern Europe Traces changes in depiction of war and warriors from 16th to 17th C in major artists, Titian, Rubens, Velasquez: Heroic images of leaders on horseback gradually replaced with more symbolic images, such as Mars & Venus, indicating 17th C. exhaustion with warfare especially due to 30 Years’ War and English Civil War. Hapsburg Emperor Charles V (reign 1519-1555) Also King Carlos I of Spain, ruler of Austria & Spanish Netherlands 1547 Titian Philip II of Spain Son of Charles V Titian Peter Paul Rubens 1577-1640 Flemish Baroque painter Heroic military figures followed later by symbolic scenes of Mars and Venus (god of war versus goddess of love) Rubens Emperor Maximilian I Father of Charles V Peter Paul Rubens 1577-1640 Flemish Catholic Baroque painter Duke of Lerma (Spain) 1603 Duke of Buckhingham (England)
    [Show full text]
  • Prints That Were Initially Produced and Printed There.[16]
    Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577 – 1640 Antwerp) How to cite Bakker, Piet. “Peter Paul Rubens” (2017). In The Leiden Collection Catalogue, 3rd ed. Edited by Arthur K. Wheelock Jr. and Lara Yeager-Crasselt. New York, 2020–. https://theleidencollection.com/artists/peter-paul- rubens/ (accessed September 27, 2021). A PDF of every version of this biography is available in this Online Catalogue's Archive, and the Archive is managed by a permanent URL. New versions are added only when a substantive change to the narrative occurs. © 2021 The Leiden Collection Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) Peter Paul Rubens Page 2 of 7 Peter Paul Rubens was born in Siegen, Germany, on 28 June 1577. His parents were the lawyer Jan Rubens (1530–87) and Maria Pijpelincx (1538–1608).[1] Jan had also been an alderman of Antwerp, but fearing reprisal for his religious tolerance during the Beeldenstorm (Iconoclastic Fury), he fled in 1568 and took refuge with his family in Cologne. There he was the personal secretary of William I of Orange’s (1533–84) consort, Anna of Saxony (1544–77), with whom he had an affair. When the liaison came to light, Jan was banished to prison for some years. Shortly after his death in 1587, his widow returned with her children to Antwerp. Rubens’s study at the Latin school in Antwerp laid the foundations for his later status as a pictor doctus, an educated humanist artist who displayed his erudition not with a pen, but with a paintbrush. He derived his understanding of classical antiquity and literature in part from the ideas of Justus Lipsius (1547–1606), an influential Dutch philologist and humanist.[2] Lipsius’s Christian interpretation of stoicism was a particularly significant source of inspiration for the artist.[3] Rubens’s older brother Filips (1574–1611) had heard Lipsius lecture in Leuven and was part of his circle of friends, as was Peter Paul, who continued to correspond with one another even after the scholar’s death.
    [Show full text]
  • October 17, 2017 – January 21, 2018 Rubens the Power Of
    OCTOBER 17, 2017 – RUBENS JANUARY 21, 2018 THE POWER OF TRANSFORMATION Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) was a star during his lifetime, and he remains a star today. His name is synonymous with an entire period, the Baroque. But his novel pictorial inventions continue to influence and appeal to artists. Now two leading museums, the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien and the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, are hosting a major exhibition entitled “Rubens. The Power of Transformation”. The exhibition focuses on some little-studied aspects of Rubens’ creative process, illustrating the profound dialogue he entered into with works produced by other great masters, both precursors and contemporaries, and how this impacted his work over half a century. His use or referencing of works by various artists from different periods is generally not immediately apparent, and the exhibition invites visitors to discover these sometimes surprising correlations and connections by directly comparing the works in question. Comprising artworks in various media, the exhibition brings together paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures and objets d’art. Exemplary groups of works will demonstrate Rubens’ methods, which allowed him to dramatize well-known and popular as well as novel subject matters. This offers a fascinating glimpse into the genesis of his compositions and his surprising changes of motifs, but also how he struggled to find the perfect format and the ideal form. Rubens’ extensive œuvre reflects both the influence of classical sculpture and of paintings produced by artists - both in Italy and north of the Alps - from the late fifteenth century to the Baroque. Selected examples will help to illustrate the powerful creative effort that underpins Rubens’ compositions, and the reaction-chains they, in turn, set off in his artistic dialogue with his contemporaries.
    [Show full text]
  • Primary Teacher's Notes 2015-16
    PRIMARY TEACHERS’ NOTES 2015–16 ‘A ROMAN TRIUMPH’, about 1630 Oil on canvas stuck down on oak 86.8 x 163.9 cm PETER PAUL RUBENS © The National Gallery, London © The National Gallery, ABOUT THE ARTIST By all accounts Rubens was a charming and well-loved man with formidable erudition and exceptional energy. Peter Paul Rubens was born in exile in Seigen, Germany This energy is visible in his numerous works which he on 28 June 1577. His Calvinist parents had fled religious executed with the help of his vast studio and which are persecution in their native city of Antwerp. After his father’s characterised by visible brushwork, dynamic compositions death when Rubens was just ten years old, the family and vibrant colouring. returned to Flanders and converted back to Catholicism. Rubens lived and worked at a time of turbulent civil war In 1630, at the age of 53, Rubens married again. To and religious turmoil. In adulthood, he became both a everyone’s surprise he did not marry into the nobility, but respected diplomat helping to broker peace and a celebrated chose Helene Fourment, the 16 year-old daughter of a artist, developing the new style of Baroque painting that respectable merchant family. Rubens was clearly bowled championed the Catholic Counter Reformation. over by his new wife with whom he has five children, and she figures in numerous portraits, including a version of Having received a humanist education, learning Latin and ‘The Judgement of Paris’ in which she appears as Venus. the Classics, Rubens began his career aged thirteen as a court page to the Countess Marguerite de Ligne.
    [Show full text]
  • HNA November 2017 Newsletter
    historians of netherlandish art NEWSLETTER AND REVIEW OF BOOKS Dedicated to the Study of Netherlandish, German and Franco-Flemish Art and Architecture, 1350-1750 Vol. 34, No. 2 November 2017 Peter Paul Rubens, Centaur Tormented by Peter Paul Rubens, Ecce Homo, c. 1612. Cupid. Drawing after Antique Sculpture, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg 1600/1608. Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, © The State Hermitage Museum, Cologne © Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln St. Petersburg 2017 Exhibited in Peter Paul Rubens: The Power of Transformation. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, October 17, 2017 – January 21, 2018 Städel Museum, Frankfurt, February 8 – May 21, 2018. HNA Newsletter, Vol. 23, No. 2, November 2006 1 historians of netherlandish art www.hnanews.org E-Mail: [email protected] Historians of Netherlandish Art Offi cers President – Paul Crenshaw (2017-2021) Providence College Department of Art History 1 Cummingham Square Providence RI 02918-0001 Vice-President – Louisa Wood Ruby (2017-2021) The Frick Collection and Art Reference Library 10 East 71 Street New York NY 10021 Treasurer – David Levine Southern Connecticut State University 501 Crescent Street New Haven CT 06515 European Treasurer and Liaison - Fiona Healy Seminarstrasse 7 D-55127 Mainz Germany Contents President's Message .............................................................. 1 In Memoriam ......................................................................... 2 Board Members Personalia ............................................................................... 4 Arthur
    [Show full text]
  • Luc Tuymans on Baroque 01.06–16.09.2018
    Luc Tuymans on Baroque EN 01.06–16.09.2018 Sanguine / Bloedrood 1 Luc Tuymans on Baroque 01.06–16.09.2018 2 Table of Contents 7 Introduction 9 A conversation between Luc Tuymans, Bart De Baere and Manfred Sellink on the occasion of Sanguine/Bloedrood. Luc Tuymans on Baroque 29 Artists 133 Luc Tuymans on Baroque Éric Suchère 139 Two Spectres Ken Pratt 145 On the Invisibility of Art Bart De Baere Isa Genzken, Untitled, 2006 Courtesy Galerie Buchholz, Cologne/Berlin/New York, photo © M HKA, © SABAM Belgium 20184 5 Introduction Sanguine / Luc Tuymans on Baroque 01.06– 16.09.2018 Bloedrood During the cultural city festival Antwerp Francisco de Zurbarán, Lili Dujourie, Baroque 2018. Rubens inspires, curator Marlene Dumas, Zhang Enli, Jan Fabre, Luc Tuymans juxtaposes the spirit of Lucio Fontana, Marcel Gautherot, the baroque masters with the vision of Isa Genzken, Joris Ghekiere, contemporary top artists. The exhibition Franciscus Gijsbrechts, Pierre Huyghe, Sanguine/Bloedrood aims to overwhelm Jonathan Johnson, Jacob Jordaens, the visitor by placing key works from the On Kawara, Edward Kienholz, Baroque in dialogue with the work of Jukka Korkeila, Dominik Lejman, classical contemporary masters, and new Takashi Murakami, Nadia Naveau, works by contemporary stars. Sanguine/ Bruce Nauman, Johann Georg Pinsel, Bloedrood is a visually opulent and chal- Sigmar Polke, Tobias Rehberger, lenging exhibition that brings old masters Peter Paul Rubens, Yutaka Sone, into the experimental spaces of contempo- Henri Storck, Piotr Tolmachov, rary art. Pascale Marthine Tayou, Javier Téllez, David Gheron Tretiakoff, Dennis Tyfus, The term ‘baroque’ continues to evoke Anthony van Dyck, Jan Van Imschoot, Jan some of its original negative connotations Vercruysse and Jack Whitten.
    [Show full text]
  • The Physicality of Rubens‟ Human Bodies: Visuality And
    THE PHYSICALITY OF RUBENS‟ HUMAN BODIES: VISUALITY AND MEDICINE IN EARLY MODERN EUROPE AIKATERINI GEORGOULIA TWO VOLUMES VOLUME I PH.D. UNIVERSITY OF YORK HISTORY OF ART SEPTEMBER 2014 ABSTRACT This thesis presents new textual and visual source material for our understanding of Rubens‟ painted human bodies. It identifies hitherto unexamined socio-cultural contexts, as well as contests and revises scholarly assumptions. I maintain that Rubens‟ bodies were informed by early modern scientific practices and medical discourses. The central argument is that Rubens‟ understanding of human physicality and the contemporary engagement with basic biological processes converge in his painted bodies. The medical view of the body as a psychosomatic unity – a nexus of material and immaterial properties – opens a new investigative avenue to studies of cultural materialism. The exploration of the enmeshment of materiality and immateriality gives an insight into how and in what ways matter and image acquire meaning. I argue that the immaterial characteristics of the human body are visually integrated in canvas and paper, pigments, oils and chalk. By exploring visual and textual sources, this study proposes a larger methodological framework. It brings together visuality, materiality and textuality, providing a cross-referential reading of text and image, and using both of them as core primary material with an argumentative voice. The analysis of the visual case studies (portraiture, history and religious painting) does not draw on a larger pre-determined and extraneous context, but context is produced by the image. Therefore, I perceive context as multifarious and wide-ranging. My approach responds to the previous lack of a broader study of Rubens‟ bodies via a medical perspective.
    [Show full text]
  • Peter Paul Rubens – Cultural Entrepreneur Avant La Lettre
    Erasmus University Rotterdam Faculty of History and Arts Peter Paul Rubens – Cultural Entrepreneur avant la lettre A case study in the economic history of the arts Thesis for the M.A. degree in Art & Cultural Studies Cultural Economics & Cultural Entrepreneurship Fu Lo 314699 [email protected] July 2009 Supervisor: Dr. Filip R. R. Vermeylen Second Reader: Dr. Karolien de Clippel Abstract This thesis is an interdisciplinary research that connects (cultural) economics with history of art through a case study of the great Baroque master Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). Rubens has always been a significant icon in history; probably because of his versatile roles during his life. Besides being a genuine artist he was a humanistic scholar and a pacifying diplomat. And as the title of this thesis suggests, Rubens‘s extraordinary awareness and ability towards the business of art is the main focus in this thesis, as he epitomizes the notion of a ‗cultural entrepreneur‘ in the seventeenth century. Using economic theories we can identify Rubens‘s entrepreneurial mind and activities through the way of producing, organizing, transmitting and distributing art. Historical evidence shows that Rubens was indeed very familiar with certain economic concepts, such as division of labor, quality control, market segregation and even customer relationship management. The structure of this thesis can thus be divided into three parts: a literature review on the economic history of the arts, background introduction of Rubens and his time, and finally an economic interpretation of his artistic activities. The main findings of the thesis will be demonstrated in three parts, being the supply, the demand, and the price level of Rubens‘s art, respectively.
    [Show full text]
  • Disegno E Colore: Art Historical Reflections on the Structuring of Space
    Disegno e colore: Art Historical Reflections on the Structuring of Space Rein Undusk Before getting down to the subject of the paper, I would like to make a couple of remarks as regards my approach. First I feel obliged to temper the strictly art historical viewpoint advanced in the title with an aesthetical overtone of a more general nature. As a matter of fact, my adherence to the problem of disegno e colore has come from two sources, both outside the realm of art. On the one hand, it has resulted from an interest in the visual tradition of ancient rhetoric, which in the long run, as we know, had proven extremely relevant to art history as well. In broad terms, it’s a question of how verbal expression relates to pictorial expres- sion, and vice versa. On the other hand, a certain overall affection for the spatial conceptions in antique and modern philosophy has been conducive to my focus on the problem. In this connection, art history serves as an exemplum of con- comitant theoretical thought and world view. My second remark derives from the feeling that it’s a sketch of a problem rather than the results of a study that I’m going to propose to you next. It is beyond dispute that art theory was born in the period of the Renaissance. And as appropriate to every genuine and self-respecting theoretical outlook, it developed in dialogue between two cities, the inland Florence and the coastal and more modern Venice. However, in the context of the Renaissance, the role of Venice must be described as somehow ministerial to the standard-bearer Flor- ence.
    [Show full text]
  • Telling Stories “Daniel Among Many Lions, Taken from Life
    Peter Paul Rubens Peter Paul Rubens. Self-portrait with hat (detail), 1623 – 1625, oil on wood, Uffizi, Florence, Italy. Photo credit: Scala / Art Resource, NY Painter and Diplomat 1 Flemish artist Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577 – 1640) had a prolific career painting religious and mythological stories, church altarpieces, palace decorations, royal portraits, and intimate family scenes. Not only was he one of the most acclaimed painters of his time, but he was also a scholar, teacher, linguist (he knew seven languages), collector of antiquities, and diplomat. Daniel’s Dramatic Story Rubens traveled from his home in Antwerp to study in Italy from 1600 to 1609. There he was inspired by classi- 2 The story of the Hebrew prophet Daniel comes from cal sculpture, the paintings of Raphael and Michelangelo, the Old Testament. Daniel aroused the envy of the other and Caravaggio’s dramatic works that contrast light and royal ministers when he became the chief counselor shadow. Rubens returned to Antwerp, where his artistic to the Persian king Darius. These jealous men tricked talents were quickly recognized and his popularity grew. the king into ordering Daniel’s death. They passed a law Rubens was appointed court painter to Archduke Albert that said people could pray only to the king and not and his wife, Isabella. He established a large workshop to any god. When it was discovered that Daniel kept with apprentices and assistants to help him complete his praying to God as he always had, he was condemned numerous commissions. to spend the night in the den of ferocious, hungry lions.
    [Show full text]
  • Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard Part Xix
    CORPUS RUBENIANUM MC / f / i LUDWIG BURCHARD PART XIX PORTRAITS II. ANTWERP - IDENTIFIED SITTERS BY HANS VLIEGHE CORPUS RUBENIANUM LUDWIG BURCHARD AN ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ OF THE WORK OF PETER PAUL RUBENS BASED ON THE MATERIAL ASSEMBLED BY THE LATE DR LUDWIG BURCHARD IN TWENTY-SIX PARTS TRANSLATED FROM THE DUTCH BY P. S. FALLA SPONSORED BY THE CITY OF ANTWERP AND EDITED BY THE ‘NATIONAAL CENTRUM VOOR DE PLASTISCHE KUNSTEN VAN DE XVIde EN DE XVIUe EEUW’ R.-A. d ’h u ls t, President ■ f. Baudouin, Secretary • r. pandelaers, Treasurer N. DE POORTER • A. STUBBE • H. L1EBAERS • J. K. STEPPE • C. VAN DE VELDE • H. VLIEGHE RESEARCH ASSISTANTS! A. BALIS • H. DEVISSCHER • P. HUVENNE • M. VANDENVEN RUBENS PORTRAITS OF IDENTIFIED SITTERS PAINTED IN ANTWERP BY HANS VLIEGHE HARVEY MILLER PUBLISHERS Originating Publisher h a r vey m iller ltd • 20 Marryat Road • London sw 19 5BD Published in the United States by o x f o r d u n iv e r s it y press • New York © 1987 N ationaal C en trum voor de Plastische Kunsten van de i6dc en de 17de Eeuw British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Vlieghe, Hans Rubens portraits of identified sitters painted at Antwerp.— (Corpus Rubenianum Lu d w ig Burchard; part 19, v. 2). i. Rubens, Peter Paul “Catalogs I. T itle II. Rubens, P eter Paul III. D e schilder Rubens. E n g lish 759.9493 ND673.R9 ISBN 0-9052.03-57-7 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Harvey Miller Ltd.
    [Show full text]