Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) was a prominent Flemish Baroque artist known for his vibrant and dramatic style that emphasized action, color, and sensuality. His career included significant periods in Italy where he studied great masters and produced notable works such as 'Samson and Delilah' and the 'Marie de Medici cycle'. Rubens was not only a skilled painter but also a diplomat, and he left a lasting legacy in art, resulting in numerous masterpieces that reflect themes of violence, beauty, and mythological narratives.

1. Rubens
The painter of exuberance
First created 16 Sep 2019 Version 1.0 - 18 Oct 2019. Daperro. London.

2. Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
The portrait of Rubens at the
age of 51-53. Rubens is
considered as the most
influential Flemish Baroque
artist. He was master of the
Baroque style emphasizing
drama, action, colour and
sensuality.

3. Sebastian Munster. c1597-1600.
This portrait was painted
before Rubens went to Italy. It
is a very typical portrait of the
Northern style.

4. The Early years were important to
understand Rubens as an artist. He
transform himself from a Northern
provincial artist to an international
known virtuoso. He was in Italy
between 1600 and 1608. He studied
Titian, Veronese, Caravaggio,
Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci.
Sketch after Michelangelo's The Last
Judgement (Detail). C1600. Black and red
chalk on paper. 47x72 cm. The State
Hermitage Museum. St Petersburg.
Italy (1600-1608)
Michelangelo's
Version.

5. St George 1606-1608
The painting was painted when
Rubens was still in Italy.

6. Cain Slaying Abel 1608-1609
Can Slaying Abel is a story in the Bible in
the Bible between two brothers. Many
of Rubens’ paintings depicted violence.
In this painting the violence is stressed
by Abel’s agonised expression.

7. Samson & Delilah 1610

8. Samson & Delilah 1610
On return to Antwerp in 1609, Rubens
was appointed by Spanish Governor of
Netherlands, (Archduke Albert) as a
Court painting, a post he held for the
rest of his life.
In the story of Samson and Delilah,
Delilah discovered the secret of
Samson’s strength was in his hair. The
painting shows the moment when
Samson’s hair was cut, which robbed
him of his magical strength.
In the painting the hair was cut by a
man with an old woman holding a
candle. Delilah was looking at Samson
with some sympathy.

9. Duke of Lerma c1603.
In 1598 Rubens became a master in
the Antwerp printer’s Guild.
Rubens was appointed as a court
painter of Duke of Mantua. In 1603
Rubens was entrusted by the Duke, to
undertook a diplomatic mission to the
court of Philip III of Spain.
This painting was painted when
Rubens was in Spain.

10. Descent from the Cross 1611

11. Massacre of the Innocents 1611

12. Massacre of the Innocents 1611

13. Massacre of the Innocents 1611
This painting contains many
elements of Rubens styles. It
contains tragedy, extreme violence,
lust and movements.
There is another versions of the
painting with the same title in the
Alte Pinakothek in Munich. The more
well-known one is now in Toronto
before moving from the National
Gallery. London.
The painting was painted soon after
Rubens returned to Antwerp from
Italy.

14. Holy Women at the Sepulchre. c1611

15. Family of Jan Bruegel the Elder c1613

16. Four Rivers of Paradise. 1615

17. Four Rivers of Paradise. 1615

18. Old Woman and a Boy. c1616
Rubens painted in the style after
Caravaggio.

19. David Slaying Goliath. c1616
“Rubens chose to depict the
moment when David, having
felled the giant and taken
possession of his sword is about
to sever the head of his
adversary.” Norton Simon
Museum.

20. Miracles of St Francis Xavier. 1617

21. Adoration of the Magi. 1617

22. Calydonian Boar Hunt, 1617

23. Tiger, Lion & Leopard Hunt c1617

24. Tiger, Lion & Leopard Hunt c1617
Rubens was a dramatist.
Hunting just lion or tiger is
not enough. It has to be all
three big cats.
Tiger is a forest animal and
lion is a open plain animal.
You would not find tiger and
lion together in their natural
habitat.
The leopard in the painting is
not a leopard but a jaguar
from South America.

25. Judgement of Solomon c1617

26. St Ambrose c1618
This is a preparatory study for the
head of St Ambrose in the large
altarpiece of St Ambrose Refusing
the Emperor Theodosius Admission
to Church of Milan.
Ambrose & Theodosius. Kunsthistoriches
version. 1615 by Rubens.

27. Union of Earth & Water c1618
“Cybele as the personification of
earth holding the horn of plenty
and Neptune as the
personification of water in the
centre. The pair is crowned by the
goddess Victoria and the union is
heralded through a conch by the
Triton below” Wikipedia.

28. Kaiser Maximillian c1618
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
(1459-1519) was proclaimed emperor
by the Pope at Trent, Italy. He
arranged a series of marriages. Thus
extended the Habsburg Empire from
central Europe, the Low Countries,
Southern Italy and Spain.

29. St Dominic & St Francis 1618-20
This is a huge painting. It was painted for the
St Paul in Antwerp. The two saints by virtue
of their vows of obedience, poverty and
chastity they are protecting the world from
the lightning bolts of Christ Mankind’s pride,
greed and lust.

30. St Dominic & St Francis 1618-20

31. Head of a Child c1618
She may have been Rubens’s
eldest daughter (Clara), who died
at the age of 12. Rubens’ father-
in-law may have been the owner
of the portrait.
She had a intimate face with a
glaze of adoration, with a
freshness of a child.

32. St Ignatius of Loyola c1620-22.
St Ignatius was the founder of the Jusuit
order. It was painted for the mother church
of Jesuit order. Il Gesu, Rome. Here Rubens
painted the saint with religious emotion
and Joyous sentiments.

33. Abbot of St Michaels’Abbey in
Antwerp, c1624.
A similar religious portrait
painted about the time of St
Ignatius, for comparison

34. Le Chapeau de Palle 1622-25
This is a portrait of Susanna Lunden,
Rubens’ sister. If this identification is
correct then the ring on her finger
suggested that it was painted on her
second marriage.
Chapeau de Palle in English means a
straw hat. This painting inspired Vigee
Le Brun to paint her own self-portrait.
Vigee LeBrun.
After 1782.

35. Louis XIII Comes of Age, 1622-25.
There is a huge room in the Louvre,
Paris called the Marie de’ Medici
Cycle, where 24 monumental
paintings by Rubens are on display.
They depicted episodes of Queen
Marie de Medici in the presence of
gods from ancient mythology. This
is one of the painting.

36. Meeting of Marie de Medici and Henri
IV. c1622-25.
Another of the monumental
paintings in the Marie de Medici
Cycle. She was the Queen of France,
who married Henry IV and mother of
Louis XIII.

37. Education of the Princess. c1622-25.
Another of the 24 paintings in the
Marie de Medici Cycle.
Marie de Medici Cycle at the Louvre.

38. The Death of Henry IV and the Proclamation of the Regency c1622-25.
One of the paintings in the Marie de Medici Cycle. The painting is made up of
two scenes the elevation of Henry IV and the assumption of Maria to the crown.

39. Minerva Protects Pax from Mars, 1629-30.

40. Rubens was a eloquent diplomat. He painted this in Britain. He was sent by the
king of Spain to negotiate peace with Charles I of England. It has a simple
message, ‘peace will bring prosperity’. Rubens was knighted by Charles I of
England.
Minerva Protects Pax from Mars, 1629-30.

41. Minerva Protects Pax from Mars, 1629-30.
Rubens often painted exotic animals to give his painting drama and eye-catching quality.

42. The Three Graces, 1630-35.
Rubens painted violence,
eroticism, drama and opulence.
Rubens’ erotic nudes of quasi
pornographic, with fleshy
women. The Three Graces and
the Judgement of Paris are
examples of this.
“… His nudes emphasize the
concepts of fertility, desire,
physical beauty, temptation and
virtue ….” Wikipedia.

43. Judgement of Paris, 1632-35.

44. Judgement of Paris, 1632-35.

45. Judgement of Paris, 1632-35.
My problem with these nudity paintings is that these beautiful women were painted more
like objects than a real person.

46. On the other hand, Rubens painted his wife with feelings.
Helena Fourment was Rubens’ second wife. Rubens
married his first wife at the age of 32 and his second wife
at 53.
Helena Fourment in a Fur Robe, 1636-38.
1st wife Isabella Brant. 2ndt wife Helena Fourment

47. Feast of Herod, 1635.

48. Ceiling of the Banqueting House, 1635.
Nine Rubens paintings made up the ceiling of the Banqueting House in Whitehall, London. It
was commissioned King Charles I of England in 1629 and finished in 1635. Charles I was
very impressed by the painting that he gave Rubens a gold chain and knighted Rubens.

49. Het Steen in the Early Morning, c1636.
Rubens was one of the most successful painter in history. He bought this villa in the country to study
landscape and paint in peace. He also built himself a palatial home, the Rubenshuis in Antwerp.

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The
End
Music – J S Bach, Wachet Auf from Cantata 140
He built this Italian mansion,Rubenshuis as his house in the middle of Antwerp.

51. Low Countries Painters