On the death of Jan
Rubens in 1587, his
widow returned the
family to Antwerp, where
they again became
Catholics. After
studying the classics in
a Latin school and
serving as a court page,
Peter Paul decided to
become a painter. He
apprenticed in turn with
Tobias Verhaecht, Adam
van Noort, and Otto van
Veen, called Vaenius,
three minor Flemish
painters influenced by
16th-century Mannerist
artists of the
Florentine-Roman school.
The young Rubens was as
precocious a painter as
he had earlier been a
scholar of modern
European languages and
of classical antiquity.
In 1598, at the age of
21, he was accorded the
rank of master painter
of the Antwerp Guild of
St. Luke.
Following the example of
many northern European
artists of the period,
Rubens felt drawn by
necessity to travel to
Italy, the center of
European art for the
previous two centuries.
In 1600 he arrived in
Venice, where he was
particularly inspired by
the paintings of Titian,
Paolo Veronese, and
Tintoretto. Later, while
resident in Rome, he was
influenced by the works
of Michelangelo and
Raphael, as well as by
ancient Greco-Roman
sculpture.
Vincenzo Gonzaga
(reigned 1587-1612), the
duke of Mantua, employed
Rubens for about nine
years. Besides executing
original works, Rubens
copied Renaissance
paintings for the ducal
collection, and in 1605
he served as the duke's
emissary to King Philip
III of Spain. During his
years in Italy, Rubens
saw the early baroque
works of the
contemporary Italian
painters Annibale
Carracci and Caravaggio,
and he associated with
some of the leading
humanist intellectuals
of the day. When Rubens
left Italy, he was no
longer a bourgeois but a
gentleman, and he was
not a local artist but
one of international
style and reputation.
His mother's death in
1608 brought Rubens back
to Antwerp, where he
married
Isabella Brandt in
1609. Having formulated
one of the first
innovative expressions
of the baroque style
while in Italy, Rubens
on his return was
recognized as the
foremost painter of
Flanders and, therefore,
was immediately employed
by the burgomaster of
Antwerp. His success was
further confirmed in
1609, when he was
engaged as court painter
to the Austrian archduke
Albert and his wife, the
Spanish infanta
Isabella, who together
ruled the Low Countries
as viceroys for the king
of Spain. The number of
pictures requested from
Rubens was so large that
he established an
enormous workshop in
which the master did the
initial sketch and final
touches, while his
apprentices completed
all the intermediary
steps. Besides court
commissions from
Brussels and abroad, the
highly devout Rubens was
much in demand by the
militant Counter
Reformation church of
Flanders, which regarded
his dramatic,
emotionally charged
interpretations of
religious events—such as
the Triptych of the
Raising of the Cross
(1610-11, Antwerp
Cathedral)—as images for
spiritual recruitment
and renewal. Prosperity
allowed Rubens to build
an Italianate residence
in Antwerp, where he
housed his extensive
collection of art and
antiquities.
Between 1622 and 1630
Rubens's value as a
diplomat was equal to
his importance as a
painter. In 1622 he
visited Paris, where the
French queen Marie de
Médicis commissioned
him, for the Luxembourg
Palace, to depict her
life in a series of
allegorical paintings
(completed 1625).
Despite the keen loss
Rubens felt after the
death of his wife in
1626, he continued to be
highly productive. In
1628 he was sent by the
Flemish viceroys to
Spain.
From 1630, when he
married Hélène Fourment,
until his death on May
30, 1640, Rubens
remained in Antwerp,
living primarily at
Castle Steen, his
country residence.
During this final decade
he continued executing
commissions for the
Habsburg monarchs of
Austria and Spain. More
and more, he also
painted pictures of
personal interest,
especially of his wife
and child and of the
Flemish countryside.
The concerns of Rubens's
late style, and indeed
of his whole career, are
summarized in The
Judgment of Paris (circa
1635-37, National
Gallery, London). In
this painting voluptuous
goddesses are posed
against a verdant
landscape, goddesses and
landscape both
symbolizing the richness
of creation. Color is
luxuriant, light and
shade glow, and the
brushwork is sensuous.
All these elements
further the meaning of
the narrative, which is
Paris's selection of
what is most beautiful
the lifelong concern of
Rubens in his art.