Met Rubens Door Antwerpen 1 RUBENS’ ANTWERP Irene Smets

Met Rubens door Antwerpen 1 RUBENS’ ANTWERP Irene Smets

A GUIDE RUBENS’ ANTWERP Irene Smets

A GUIDE Droogbrug

Albertbrug traatsburgdok

oordkasteel

Royersbrug

The walk takes you to different How to use this guide places in Antwerp where the work of Rubens can still be seen — A guide to Rubens’ Antwerp is an ideal companion to discover the artist in the Information about Rubens sites of interest city he loved so much. As well as being a practical guide, which will unerringly lead you to the many great masterpieces made by Rubens in Antwerp, it is also a book that will teach you about the man behind the artist and the fascinating Baroque period in which he lived.

LDTRAAT A

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Chronological summary of Discussion of the Rubens works A

I A A

the most important dates in you can still admire in Antwerp

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D I

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Rubens’ life T I Ë

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A T T I

Learn about the life and T W An easy-to-follow walking route A B W T D

A T A

R L R T D R B

T L

I H A D D T R R multi-faceted work of Rubens, on a detachable map that shows R T A A R

T A T A A P A T

R A A R T I T L I R D -

R L RT DDAARD T T the most brilliant exponent of all the Rubens sites of interest - B P AL A P D R L P RI H T A

T A A R

T AA

A A A R T

R TR A T chelde

- A T P B A I

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the Baroque R L R R ART

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12 A B A DTRAAT

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4 How to use this guide RW How to use this guide 5 L T T AA TR T T I

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L T A R T A A AT A PACIICATITR R AAT T B ITTL P A R ID H I A E A - L B I A L IK L R I A E A M A

DIIDLAA Droogbrug

Albertbrug traatsburgdok

oordkasteel

Royersbrug

LDTRAAT A

R A

TAAI APLTRAAT

DIATTRAAT B

A I APLAA

IT LARIAAI

Chronological summary of Discussion of the Rubens works A

I A A

the most important dates in you can still admire in Antwerp

T T

D I

L R

Rubens’ life T I Ë

T L

T RIDAAI A IT-ALDDIAAI HATDPLA D T P

A A

PAAARDT T R

ADRIAABRWRTRA AT

A T

A T A H I AC R

PLI R

T I Waaslandtunnel BRWRLIT D LW CHB- RI

A R T I R I R BLAWBR- CHIPPR- H I I I R TRAAT TRAAT A A L T L

A A R P

T TRAAT R A L T A

A R

T A TLPLAAT B P

A R

R C L

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T T L I A A I

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T R I

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L A R A T

A I I T T I T

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D A A

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P T R R

H A I I I A R

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R A R T T D T A A

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T T R T B R I A A IL A A D TR T A A AA A I T T T L R L A A H A T I C

W T Ë A A T L I R A A T D EI A R D A L R T R A T A R A T R R H T B D B T A L C IR L R R R A

R T I W R A R

A T T I

Learn about the life and T W An easy-to-follow walking route A B W T D

A T A

R L R T D R B

T L

I H A D D T R R multi-faceted work of Rubens, on a detachable map that shows R T A A R

T A T A A P A T

R A A R T I T L I R D -

R L RT DDAARD T T the most brilliant exponent of all the Rubens sites of interest - B P AL A P D R L P RI H T A

T A A R

T AA

A A A R T

R TR A T chelde

- A T P B A I

T 6 I

the Baroque R L R R ART

D A A T P T

T H

A R A B P B

T 7 T A I

A T BORGERHOUT

R - R R T R

P C A

L T T A A A T

I T A P I A T A A H ART I A I T

A A R T T A R D I A A L R R A T R

- R T TR T R A T R A 8 A R T T - H A I T A - A 4 R

A T R R B R T L R T P A P A I A A A T I T R T L

T R A L R C C

I A T D P L W B I I A A - I A A A A

T T L A R P R R T I R RA T C B

A D A T R L D A H IRART D R A R T A P A TRAAT D T T R

A R PR- R A R P - T A

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H T A T A I N I

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R W R A T R P W T I L T T A

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A R R F R R R D R

I T T D I A A B T L

H R TR

A A

I A AT T T

T R - P R Sint-Andrieskerk D CTRAAL D A A T R A

D WAPPR L R I T TATI T T T P R R

A T A T P

T T LL R

12 A B A DTRAAT

R AA A

4 How to use this guide RW How to use this guide 5 L T T AA TR T T I

I A D A T THD D A R R A AT I PLAD A A TRA H C RDI T R A RIWIC C R PLAAT A T T T P T R AA R - R H TR A A T H A T A CHTTR T

T T A T I T H A

R A IC A T R H L

A P I A LTLT R

T R L A A D T A I T P T

P R T A A

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D L A T I DR A I L

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T R R AA C A R T A A

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T T D B L R

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I I LA D A C A B T R A H A RA I T A

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T L LA TR T A A I A A P I T T R A

T D L T L R D A A D Botanische A A HPTRAAT T L R T B P PR I tuin IWTAD RT RTRA R P RAA AT L T B D RIR RI A TR H A

T T RAA A T

RC T

T R L T

A T A T T A

A A A A A

ALWL R A A A T

R T R L R T T T T P I

T E R

D C R I L C R R H A

T K

H W A IL A R L J B

T L R L

P R T A

A T

C A A I R L H LABRT- B T R

R A PLAAT A T D R A A L L A T R A R A A A T A R I I A T T D

L T A R T A A AT A PACIICATITR R AAT T B ITTL P A R ID H I A E A - L B I A L IK L R I A E A M A

DIIDLAA Contents

9 With Rubens through Antwerp

10 Chronological summary of Rubens’ life

12 Rubens and his time

14 Childhood 17 Artistic training and his stay in Italy 22 A future in Antwerp 26 The unfolding of a great talent 34 Protagonist of the Baroque 40 Spectacular productivity - with the help of his workshop 47 Major commissions and international fame 52 A role in European politics 60 The lyrical period

72 Discovering Rubens in Antwerp

75 Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp 89 Groenplaats 91 Plantin-Moretus Museum 97 Cathedral of Our Lady 110 Grote Markt 113 St. Charles Borromeo Church 119 Snijders & Rockox House 123 The Emperor’s Chapel 125 St. Willibrord’s Church 127 St. Paul’s Church 135 St. Anthony of Padua’s Church 137 St. James’s Church 141 Rubens House

Contents 7 Contents

9 With Rubens through Antwerp

10 Chronological summary of Rubens’ life

12 Rubens and his time

72 Discovering Rubens in Antwerp

Contents 7 With Rubens through Antwerp

Peter Paul Rubens was one of the most important representatives of the art of his time, the Baroque. More than that, he was also one of the most productive artistic geniuses who ever lived. His talents were remarkably varied: in addition to the magnificent religious and mythological canvases for which he is most famous, he also painted landscapes and portraits, as well as making designs for book illustrations, tapestries, buildings and sculptures. He was an outstanding colourist, who raised the skilled use of a rich palette of shades and tints to a new and important form of expression. He also understood the techniques necessary to create dramatic scenes that were capable of seizing and holding the imagination of the viewer. For this reason, the Romantic French painter Eugène Delacroix once called him the ‘Homer of art’. He found the perfect balance between unbridled imaginative power and well-ordered, harmonic composition. You can find his works in almost all the world’s leading museums, but there is only one city that can truly be described as his ‘biotope’: Antwerp. It is in Antwerp that you can visit his house and workshop, where nearly all of his great masterpieces were crafted. It is in Antwerp that you can find the homes of his friends, Balthasar I Moretus and Nicolaas Rockox. It is in Antwerp that you can admire his canvases in the historical churches and other locations for which they were originally intended. This book is devoted to exploring Rubens’ presence in ‘the city on the Scheldt’. It examines Rubens’ life and the development of his art, and it discusses in depth the artist’s most important paintings that can still be viewed in Antwerp today. In short, the book is a guide to the environment in which one of the world’s great masters of art lived and worked.

Irene Smets

8 With Rubens through Antwerp With Rubens through Antwerp 9 With Rubens through Antwerp

Irene Smets

8 With Rubens through Antwerp With Rubens through Antwerp 9 Chronological summary of Rubens’ life

ca Pieter Paul Rubens 1615 Builds an impressive city residence on the Wapper, 1577 — 1640 with a large workshop.

28 June 1577 On the afternoon of the Feast of St. Peter and St. 1617–1620 Collaborates with Anthony van Dyck for, amongst Paul, P.P. Rubens is born in Siegen, Westphalia. other things, the decoration of the Jesuit Church His parents, the Antwerp jurist Jan Rubens and in Antwerp. Maria Pypelinckx, had fled the Netherlands to escape the violence of war. from 1621 After the death of Archduke Albrecht, becomes the political counsellor of the Infanta Isabella, until her 1578 The family settles in Cologne. death in 1633; both as a diplomat and as a painter, he receives numerous honours and awards from 1589 After the death of her husband, Maria Pypelinckx home and abroad. returns to Antwerp with her children. 1622–1625 Commissioned by Maria de Medici to decorate two ca 1591–1598 Peter Paul is apprenticed as a pupil successively to galleries in the Luxembourg Palace in Paris. the artists Tobias Verhaecht, Adam van Noort and Otto van Veen. 1626 Death of Isabella Brant.

1598 Acceptance into the St. Luke’s Guild as a 1628–1630 Undertakes diplomatic missions to Spain and London. master painter. 1629–1635 Commissioned by King Charles I of England to paint 1600–1608 Moves to Italy as court painter to Duke Vincenzo the ceiling decoration of the Banqueting House in Gonzaga; first contact with the Italian Renaissance; Whitehall Palace, London. in 1603, takes part in a diplomatic mission to the Spanish royal court. 1630 Marries Helena Fourment.

1608 Returns to Antwerp. 1633 Appointed dean of the St. Luke’s Guild.

1609 Appointed as court painter to Archduke Albrecht 1635 Buys the Steen estate near Elewijt, where he spends and Archduchess Isabella, but is also given several summers. permission to remain in Antwerp and work for his own account; marries Isabella Brant. 1636–1638 Commissioned by Philip IV of Spain to decorate the Torre de la Parada hunting lodge. from 1609 Receives important commissions, including many for religious works of art to redecorate churches 30 May 1640 Death of P.P. Rubens in Antwerp. following their destruction in the religious wars; confirmed in his artistic vision as a practitioner of the Baroque style.

10 Chronological summary of Rubens’ life 11 Chronological summary of Rubens’ life

ca Pieter Paul Rubens 1615 Builds an impressive city residence on the Wapper, 1577 — 1640 with a large workshop.

1608 Returns to Antwerp. 1633 Appointed dean of the St. Luke’s Guild.

10 Chronological summary of Rubens’ life 11 RUBENS

AND HIS TIME RUBENS

AND HIS TIME Childhood I knew your brother when he was a of Prince William of Orange, also known as William the Silent, who child at school and I loved that boy was one of the leaders of the anti-Spanish resistance. After expe- with his sweet and noble nature. riencing a number of trials and tribulations, including a period of

Balthasar I Moretus to Philip Rubens, Abel Grimmer and Hendrik van imprisonment for Jan, the Rubens household settled in Siegen, but November 1600 Balen, Antwerp, with part of was eventually able to return to Cologne just a short time after Peter the Flemish Head fort, 1600. Paul’s birth. It was in this city that the future artist spent the early Panel, 37 x 44 cm. Antwerp, Royal Museum of Fine Arts years of his childhood, until he was almost 12 years of age. He grew

Jacob Claesz. van Utrecht, Son of political refugees up in a large family with many siblings, but he was particularly close Bartholomeus Rubens and Barbara Peter Paul Rubens was born on the afternoon of 28 June 1577 - the to his brother Philip, who was three years older. Arents, also named Spierinck, 1529–1530. Panel, both 56 x Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul - in Siegen, a small town in Westphalia. 36.5 cm. Antwerp, Rubens House His parents – the Antwerp jurist Jan Rubens and his wife Maria Return to Antwerp — Pypelinckx – had fled the Scheldt city in 1568. Jan Rubens, who Jan Rubens died in 1587. A short while later, Maria Pypelinckx re- These pendant portraits depict Rubens’ grandparents on his was one of the city aldermen, was suspected of having Protestant turned with her children to Antwerp. During the intervening father’s side ca. 1529, the year of sympathies, which could be highly dangerous in those perilous years, the political situation had changed. In 1585, the military their marriage. Bartholomeus was a spice merchant and apothecary times, when a bloody religious war was being fought out in the commander Alexander Farnese had captured the city for the in Antwerp. Barbara came from Netherlands between the Catholic Spanish overlord and the various Spanish king and the Catholic faith. This led to the final and irre- a family belonging to the minor nobility. Their son Jan, the father supporters of the Protestant cause. The family moved to Cologne, versible separation of the Northern and Southern Netherlands. of Peter Paul, was born in 1530. where Jan Rubens became the legal adviser to Anna of Saxony, wife The North was organized as the Republic of the United Provinces,

14 Rubens and his time Childhood Childhood Rubens and his time 15 Childhood I knew your brother when he was a of Prince William of Orange, also known as William the Silent, who child at school and I loved that boy was one of the leaders of the anti-Spanish resistance. After expe- with his sweet and noble nature. riencing a number of trials and tribulations, including a period of

14 Rubens and his time Childhood Childhood Rubens and his time 15 headed by a Council of State and a ‘stadtholder’. The South re- Artistic training Finally, after he [Otto van Veen] had mained under Spanish rule and was administered by a governor. and his stay in Italy taught him a great deal in a very Rubens’ mother was allowed to take up residence in Antwerp, short space of time, and when the provided that she converted to Catholicism. fame of the renowned pupil had Unfortunately, the partition between North and South failed to become so great that people no bring peace: both sides continued to harry each other wherever longer knew which of the two was possible. This meant that the young Rubens grew up against a con- the more skilful, him or his master, stant backdrop of political and religious division, often resulting Rubens decided to go to Italy. in new outbreaks of fighting. To make matters worse, France also Roger de Piles, Conversations sur la Connaissance de la intervened in the conflict, in the hope of one day incorporating Peinture…, Paris, 1677 the Southern Netherlands into the French kingdom. The various phases of this struggle for supremacy in the Low Countries is now known to history as the Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648), a war in which all of Europe would eventually become involved. Early training in Antwerp for his future were the three years he spent Back in Antwerp, Peter Paul attended the Latin school in the Rubens studied first under the landscape art- in the workshop of Otto van Veen, who was Papenstraatje, not far from the Cathedral of Our Lady. There he ist Tobias Verhaecht and then under Adam best known for his robust altar pieces and learnt both Latin and Greek, and later expanded his knowledge van Noort, a painter of dull and uninspired his allegories with mythological figures in a of the culture of classical antiquity through his own self-study. religious scenes, but neither of these two cool and somewhat detached classicist style. City plan of Antwerp in the When he was 13 or 14 years old, he left school to become a page to masters had a far-reaching influence on their Interesting examples of his work in Antwerp commemorative book Pompa Introitus Ferdinandi, published Marguerite de Ligne, widow of Count Philip de Lalaing, who lived pupil’s later development. More significant can be seen in the Cathedral of Our Lady (The by Theodoor van Thulden at the near the town of Oudenaarde. However, after just a few months Last Supper, 1592) and in St. Andrew’s Church printing house of Jan van Meurs he returned to Antwerp to start his apprenticeship as a painter. (The Martyrdom of St. Andrew, 1599). in Antwerp, 1642. Antwerp, Plantin-Moretus Museum One of the few surviving works from Rubens’ early years as a painter – The Fall from Grace, sometimes known as Adam and Eve in Paradise (see page 143) – displays strong stylistic simi- larities with the work of Van Veen, but is more powerful and more plastic in its approach.

To Italy, a mecca for artists In 1598–1599, shortly after completing his training with Van Veen, Rubens was admitted

Otto van Veen, The Last Supper, 1592. Canvas, 350 x 247 cm. Altarpiece for the Brotherhood of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Antwerp, Cathedral of Our Lady — This painting was regarded by contemporaries as the high point of Van Veen’s oeuvre.

16 Rubens and his time Childhood Artistic training and his stay in Italy Rubens and his time 17 headed by a Council of State and a ‘stadtholder’. The South re- Artistic training Finally, after he [Otto van Veen] had mained under Spanish rule and was administered by a governor. and his stay in Italy taught him a great deal in a very Rubens’ mother was allowed to take up residence in Antwerp, short space of time, and when the provided that she converted to Catholicism. fame of the renowned pupil had Unfortunately, the partition between North and South failed to become so great that people no bring peace: both sides continued to harry each other wherever longer knew which of the two was possible. This meant that the young Rubens grew up against a con- the more skilful, him or his master, stant backdrop of political and religious division, often resulting Rubens decided to go to Italy. in new outbreaks of fighting. To make matters worse, France also Roger de Piles, Conversations sur la Connaissance de la intervened in the conflict, in the hope of one day incorporating Peinture…, Paris, 1677 the Southern Netherlands into the French kingdom. The various phases of this struggle for supremacy in the Low Countries is now known to history as the Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648), a war in which all of Europe would eventually become involved. Early training in Antwerp for his future were the three years he spent Back in Antwerp, Peter Paul attended the Latin school in the Rubens studied first under the landscape art- in the workshop of Otto van Veen, who was Papenstraatje, not far from the Cathedral of Our Lady. There he ist Tobias Verhaecht and then under Adam best known for his robust altar pieces and learnt both Latin and Greek, and later expanded his knowledge van Noort, a painter of dull and uninspired his allegories with mythological figures in a of the culture of classical antiquity through his own self-study. religious scenes, but neither of these two cool and somewhat detached classicist style. City plan of Antwerp in the When he was 13 or 14 years old, he left school to become a page to masters had a far-reaching influence on their Interesting examples of his work in Antwerp commemorative book Pompa Introitus Ferdinandi, published Marguerite de Ligne, widow of Count Philip de Lalaing, who lived pupil’s later development. More significant can be seen in the Cathedral of Our Lady (The by Theodoor van Thulden at the near the town of Oudenaarde. However, after just a few months Last Supper, 1592) and in St. Andrew’s Church printing house of Jan van Meurs he returned to Antwerp to start his apprenticeship as a painter. (The Martyrdom of St. Andrew, 1599). in Antwerp, 1642. Antwerp, Plantin-Moretus Museum One of the few surviving works from Rubens’ early years as a painter – The Fall from Grace, sometimes known as Adam and Eve in Paradise (see page 143) – displays strong stylistic simi- larities with the work of Van Veen, but is more powerful and more plastic in its approach.

To Italy, a mecca for artists In 1598–1599, shortly after completing his training with Van Veen, Rubens was admitted

16 Rubens and his time Childhood Artistic training and his stay in Italy Rubens and his time 17 and threw himself into the study of topics as new ideas and in particular was fascinated by An important teacher varied as the classical sculpture of Ancient the Baroque movement, which was bursting Greece and Rome, the art of the Italian High onto the scene in Rome at that time thanks to Otto van Veen, often Latinized as Otto Vaenius, was born in Renaissance, local architecture and even the works of Carracci and Caravaggio. When 1556 in Leiden, where he also received his first artistic train- gemstones. While he was in Rome, he made in Genoa, he collected a large number of ar- ing. Out of loyalty to the Spanish king and the Catholic faith, Van Veen’s father, who was burgomaster of Leiden, fled with numerous copies and study drawings of fa- chitectural plans and facade drawings of the his family to Antwerp in 1572. However, because the city at mous classical statues, such as the Belvedere city’s many palaces, which he later engraved that time was largely under the dominance of the reformers, Torso and the Laocoon, but also of the paint- and published in Antwerp in 1622 as a book of the family moved on to Liege, where the young Otto was Otto van Veen, The artist ings of the great masters of the Renaissance, prints, titled Palazzi di Genova. apprenticed to the humanist artist Dominicus Lampsonius. at work, surrounded by like Mantegna, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, In March 1603, the duke asked Rubens to accom- his family, 1584. Canvas, Van Veen later completed his artistic education with five 176 x 250 cm. Detail. years in Rome, following which he returned to the Southern Michelangelo, Titian, Tintoretto, Correggio pany a convoy of gifts that he wished to send to Paris, Louvre Museum Netherlands, working first for the Prince-Bishop of Liege and and others. At the same time, he was open to the court of the Spanish king, Philip III. These later for the Spanish governor, Alexander Farnese. By 1590, he was back in Antwerp and in 1594 he was admitted to the St. Luke’s Guild. It was in that same year (or possibly the next) that the young Rubens joined his workshop Peter Paul Rubens, Equestrian as an apprentice. ‘Their shared interest in literature soon led them to become friends and Portrait of the Duke of Lerma, 1603. Canvas, 290.5 x 207.5 cm. the master willingly passed on all his knowledge and the secrets of his art to his pupil, Madrid, Prado Museum teaching him above all how to position his figures and to distribute the fall of light to best advantage,’ wrote Rubens’ biographer Roger de Piles in 1677. Van Veen later moved to Brussels, where he died in 1629.

Peter Paul Rubens, Study of the head of an old man, 1600–1608. Red chalk on paper, 23.3 x 15.5 cm. Antwerp, Rubens House

as a master to the St. Luke’s Guild in Antwerp. The following year, 1600, he left for Italy to complete his artistic education. He soon found a position at the court of Vincenzo I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. In the duke’s magnificent Renaissance style palace, the young Rubens was able to admire the masterpieces of the greatest ‘modern’ artists of his day. Not that he stayed there for long. He was given a degree of freedom by the duke - who was notorious- ly slow to pay his salary - to travel and to learn as much as he could. Taking advantage of this liberty, he made lengthy sojourns to Florence, Genoa and, above all, Rome. He was eager to expand his artistic horizons

18 Rubens and his time Artistic training and his stay in Italy Artistic training and his stay in Italy Rubens and his time 19 and threw himself into the study of topics as new ideas and in particular was fascinated by An important teacher varied as the classical sculpture of Ancient the Baroque movement, which was bursting Greece and Rome, the art of the Italian High onto the scene in Rome at that time thanks to Otto van Veen, often Latinized as Otto Vaenius, was born in Renaissance, local architecture and even the works of Carracci and Caravaggio. When 1556 in Leiden, where he also received his first artistic train- gemstones. While he was in Rome, he made in Genoa, he collected a large number of ar- ing. Out of loyalty to the Spanish king and the Catholic faith, Van Veen’s father, who was burgomaster of Leiden, fled with numerous copies and study drawings of fa- chitectural plans and facade drawings of the his family to Antwerp in 1572. However, because the city at mous classical statues, such as the Belvedere city’s many palaces, which he later engraved that time was largely under the dominance of the reformers, Torso and the Laocoon, but also of the paint- and published in Antwerp in 1622 as a book of the family moved on to Liege, where the young Otto was Otto van Veen, The artist ings of the great masters of the Renaissance, prints, titled Palazzi di Genova. apprenticed to the humanist artist Dominicus Lampsonius. at work, surrounded by like Mantegna, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, In March 1603, the duke asked Rubens to accom- his family, 1584. Canvas, Van Veen later completed his artistic education with five 176 x 250 cm. Detail. years in Rome, following which he returned to the Southern Michelangelo, Titian, Tintoretto, Correggio pany a convoy of gifts that he wished to send to Paris, Louvre Museum Netherlands, working first for the Prince-Bishop of Liege and and others. At the same time, he was open to the court of the Spanish king, Philip III. These later for the Spanish governor, Alexander Farnese. By 1590, he was back in Antwerp and in 1594 he was admitted to the St. Luke’s Guild. It was in that same year (or possibly the next) that the young Rubens joined his workshop Peter Paul Rubens, Equestrian as an apprentice. ‘Their shared interest in literature soon led them to become friends and Portrait of the Duke of Lerma, 1603. Canvas, 290.5 x 207.5 cm. the master willingly passed on all his knowledge and the secrets of his art to his pupil, Madrid, Prado Museum teaching him above all how to position his figures and to distribute the fall of light to best advantage,’ wrote Rubens’ biographer Roger de Piles in 1677. Van Veen later moved to Brussels, where he died in 1629.

Peter Paul Rubens, Study of the head of an old man, 1600–1608. Red chalk on paper, 23.3 x 15.5 cm. Antwerp, Rubens House as a master to the St. Luke’s Guild in Antwerp. The following year, 1600, he left for Italy to complete his artistic education. He soon found a position at the court of Vincenzo I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. In the duke’s magnificent Renaissance style palace, the young Rubens was able to admire the masterpieces of the greatest ‘modern’ artists of his day. Not that he stayed there for long. He was given a degree of freedom by the duke - who was notorious- ly slow to pay his salary - to travel and to learn as much as he could. Taking advantage of this liberty, he made lengthy sojourns to Florence, Genoa and, above all, Rome. He was eager to expand his artistic horizons

18 Rubens and his time Artistic training and his stay in Italy Artistic training and his stay in Italy Rubens and his time 19 Peter Paul Rubens, The Baptism of Christ, 1604–1605. Canvas, Vincenzo Gonzaga and His Family in Adoration 411 x 675 cm. Antwerp, of the Holy Trinity (Ducal Palace, Mantua), The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Baptism of Christ and The Transfiguration Peter Paul Rubens, Belvedere (Museum of Fine Arts, Nancy). During various Torso, before 1608. Pencil gifts were intended not just for the king, but also visits to Genoa at that time, he also painted por- and black chalk on paper, 37.5 x 26.9 cm. Antwerp, for a number of other influential figures in the traits for members of the aristocracy. Rubens House royal circle, such as the powerful Duke of Lerma. From 1605 onwards, Peter Paul lived mostly The visit allowed Rubens to discover further in Rome with his brother Philip, who was in when he received news that his mother was his compositions more heroically monumental works by the Renaissance greats in the king’s col- the service of one of the Vatican’s cardinals dying. By the time he arrived back in Antwerp, in the manner of Graeco-Roman sculpture. lection, especially Titian, but it also gave him an as a secretary and librarian. During his stay in she was already dead. He had spent eight years The sketchbooks and design folders he brought excellent opportunity to impress with his own the Eternal City, he made several new works, in Italy and was destined never to return. Even back from Italy, packed as they were with painting. Whilst in Valladolid, he made his fa- one of the most impressive of which was for so, what he had seen there continued to influ- drawings and studies of ancient statues and mous Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Lerma, the main altar of the Oratorian Church. When ence him for the rest of his life. Renaissance masterpieces, later provided him the lively and lifelike execution of which marks the painting was installed above the altar, it The works he made in Italy initially showed trac- with inspiration for the religious and mytho- a turning point in the development of his art. became apparent that it could not be viewed es of what he had learnt under Otto Van Veen, logical scenes for which he was to become so After his return from Spain to Italy, he was final- properly because of an irritating reflection. but these were soon merged with and eventu- famous. Working in combination with sketch- ly given the major commission he had long been The young artist immediately began to make ally replaced by new creative impulses: the art es made from live models, he used this Italian waiting for from Vincenzo Gonzaga, who until a new version of the three panels, but this time of classical antiquity, the warm silvery palette material as a kind of reference book on which then had been content to impose on him tasks on slate, a less reflective material. of the Venetian School, the influence of artistic he could draw for the rest of his career. But he of minor importance and copies. This commis- giants like Michelangelo, Raphael, Tintoretto, was always able to integrate these ‘borrowed’ sion involved the creation of three large-scale A lifelong source of inspiration Titian and others. His style became freer, his col- elements into his canvases in a vivid and orig- canvases for the Jesuit Church in Mantua: In October 1608, Rubens hurriedly left Rome ours more vibrant and more richly nuanced, and inal way.

20 Rubens and his time Artistic training and his stay in Italy Artistic training and his stay in Italy Rubens and his time 21 Peter Paul Rubens, The Baptism of Christ, 1604–1605. Canvas, Vincenzo Gonzaga and His Family in Adoration 411 x 675 cm. Antwerp, of the Holy Trinity (Ducal Palace, Mantua), The Royal Museum of Fine Arts Baptism of Christ and The Transfiguration Peter Paul Rubens, Belvedere (Museum of Fine Arts, Nancy). During various Torso, before 1608. Pencil gifts were intended not just for the king, but also visits to Genoa at that time, he also painted por- and black chalk on paper, 37.5 x 26.9 cm. Antwerp, for a number of other influential figures in the traits for members of the aristocracy. Rubens House royal circle, such as the powerful Duke of Lerma. From 1605 onwards, Peter Paul lived mostly The visit allowed Rubens to discover further in Rome with his brother Philip, who was in when he received news that his mother was his compositions more heroically monumental works by the Renaissance greats in the king’s col- the service of one of the Vatican’s cardinals dying. By the time he arrived back in Antwerp, in the manner of Graeco-Roman sculpture. lection, especially Titian, but it also gave him an as a secretary and librarian. During his stay in she was already dead. He had spent eight years The sketchbooks and design folders he brought excellent opportunity to impress with his own the Eternal City, he made several new works, in Italy and was destined never to return. Even back from Italy, packed as they were with painting. Whilst in Valladolid, he made his fa- one of the most impressive of which was for so, what he had seen there continued to influ- drawings and studies of ancient statues and mous Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Lerma, the main altar of the Oratorian Church. When ence him for the rest of his life. Renaissance masterpieces, later provided him the lively and lifelike execution of which marks the painting was installed above the altar, it The works he made in Italy initially showed trac- with inspiration for the religious and mytho- a turning point in the development of his art. became apparent that it could not be viewed es of what he had learnt under Otto Van Veen, logical scenes for which he was to become so After his return from Spain to Italy, he was final- properly because of an irritating reflection. but these were soon merged with and eventu- famous. Working in combination with sketch- ly given the major commission he had long been The young artist immediately began to make ally replaced by new creative impulses: the art es made from live models, he used this Italian waiting for from Vincenzo Gonzaga, who until a new version of the three panels, but this time of classical antiquity, the warm silvery palette material as a kind of reference book on which then had been content to impose on him tasks on slate, a less reflective material. of the Venetian School, the influence of artistic he could draw for the rest of his career. But he of minor importance and copies. This commis- giants like Michelangelo, Raphael, Tintoretto, was always able to integrate these ‘borrowed’ sion involved the creation of three large-scale A lifelong source of inspiration Titian and others. His style became freer, his col- elements into his canvases in a vivid and orig- canvases for the Jesuit Church in Mantua: In October 1608, Rubens hurriedly left Rome ours more vibrant and more richly nuanced, and inal way.

20 Rubens and his time Artistic training and his stay in Italy Artistic training and his stay in Italy Rubens and his time 21