Art Appreciation Lecture Series 2019 Being human: The figure in art

Rubens: flesh and fury Peter Raissis 3 & 4 April 2019

Lecture summary: (1577–1640) was one of the most versatile and influential artists of the 17th century. He drew together the heritage of antiquity, the main contribution of the High Renaissance masters, the influence of his Italian contemporaries and that of his own native Flemish tradition to synthesize in his own style what was regarded as the first truly European manner. He had an unrivalled power to bring his paintings intensely and joyfully alive, turning complex themes into vivid images of flesh and blood. His paintings range from altarpieces, portraits and landscapes to elaborate cycles of myths and allegories. His art is notable for its command of movement and its superb rendering of the nude figure.

Rubens was also a successful businessman who ran an efficient studio to meet the great demand for his work. This, coupled with his fertility and speed of thought and execution were largely responsible for his astonishing output. The current catalogue raisonné of his work is the largest on any single artist. The Corpus Rubenianum will be published in 29 volumes and compiled by a number of specialists; at the present time approximately two thirds of the full catalogue has been completed. The first volume appeared in 1968. Part of the catalogue can already be consulted online via www.rubenianum.be

Key Slides: The hippopotamus and crocodile hunt c.1615, oil on canvas, Alte Pinakothek, Munich The c.1609, oil on canvas, Alte Pinakothek, Munich c.1611, oil on panel, Pitti Palace, Florence Portraits of The Archduke Albert and The Archduchess Isabella 1609, oil on panel, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Self-Portrait 1623, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Australia Drawings after the Laocoön c.1601, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan Hercules victorious over discord c.1615, red and black chalk, British Museum, London Study of the Belvedere Torso c.1601, red chalk, Metropolitan Museum, New York Samson and Delilah c.1609, oil on panel, National Gallery London Centaur tamed by cupid c.1601, black chalk, Wallraf-RichartzMuseum, Cologne 1612, oil on panel, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg The Battle of Anghiari (after Leonardo) c.1600, black chalk, pen and ink with brown wash heightened with white and grey, , Paris A lion hunt c.1615, oil on panel, National Gallery London The Assumption of the Virgin 1611/14, oil on panel, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (with related pen and ink sketch, Albertina, Vienna; and oil sketches (modelli), Hermitage, Saint Peterburg and Royal Collection, Windsor Castle) Nicolaas Rubens wearing a coral necklace c.1619, black and red chalk, Albertina, Vienna Nicolaas Rubens wearing a red cap c.1625, black and red chalk, Albertina, Vienna c.1630, red, black and white chalk, Courtauld Gallery, London Young woman looking down, 1628, red, black and white chalk, Uffizi, Florence Proudly sponsored by:

Constantius appoints Constantine as his successor 1622, oil on panel, Art Gallery of NSW, Gift of James Fairfax 1993 Prometheus 1611/18, oil on canvas, Philadelphia Museum of Art (eagle by Frans Snyders) Study of a falling man (Prometheus), black chalk heightened with white chalk, Louvre, Paris The miracles of St Ignatius Loyola 1617/18 oil on canvas, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna The miracles of St Francis Xavier 1617/18 oil on canvas, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna The Raising of the Cross with side panels The Virgin and St John with women and children and Roman soldiers 1610-11, oil on panel, Antwerp Cathedral Study for Christ 1610-11, black and white chalk, Harvard University Art Museums The Descent from the Cross with side panels The and The Presentation in the Temple 1611-14, oil on panel, Antwerp Cathedral The Presentation in the Temple, 1632/33, oil on panel, Art Gallery of NSW, promised gift of the James Fairfax Estate The Marie de’ Medici cycle 1622-25, 24 paintings, oil on canvas, Louvre, Paris The four rivers c1615, oil on canvas, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna The rape of the daughters of Leucippus c.1618, oil on canvas, Alte Pinakothek, Munich The three graces 1630/35, oil on canvas, Prado, Madrid Helena Fourment in her wedding dress 1630, oil on canvas, Alte Pinakothek, Munich Portrait of Susanna Lunden 1622/25, oil on panel, National Gallery London Helena Fourment in a fur wrap () c.1638, oil on panel, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna Helena Fourment with two of her children c.1636, oil on panel, Louvre, Paris (with related black and white chalk drawing of Isabella Helena Rubens) The garden of Love c.1635, oil on canvas, Prado, Madrid Self-portrait c.1639, oil on canvas, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

References: Christopher White, Peter Paul Rubens, New Haven and London, 1987 Kristin Lohse Belkin, Rubens, London, 1998 Julius S. Held, Rubens. Selected Drawings, 2 vols. London, 1959 Wolfgang Stechow, Rubens and the Classical Tradition, Cambridge Mass. 1968 Ruth Saunders Magurn ed. The Letters of Peter Paul Rubens, Cambridge, Mass. 1955 Exhibition catalogues: Rubens and his Legacy, exh. cat. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2014 Peter Paul Rubens. The Drawings, exh cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2004

For access to all past lecture notes visit: https:// www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/members/current-members/member-events/being- human-figure-art/