Sir Peter Paul Rubens was a famous Baroque artist born in Germany in 1577. He traveled throughout Italy and Spain, being heavily influenced by other great Renaissance artists like Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto. In 1609, he became the court painter to the Archduke of Austria in Antwerp. Rubens painted many religious and historical pieces, as well as portraits and landscapes. He had a large workshop and was highly prolific until his death in 1640 at the age of 63.

1. June 28 1577 – May 30 1640 Baroque Artist
SIR PETER PAUL RUBENS

2. EARLY LIFE
 Rubens was born in Sigen, Germany, on June 28, 1577.
 His father was Jan Rubens and was a Calvinist.
 His mother Maria Pypelincks was a Catholic.
 His father passed away in 1587.
 Rubens moved with his mother Maria to Antwerp, where he was
raised as a Catholic in 1589.
 In Antwerp, Rubens spent time studying Latin and classical
literature.
 At the age of fourteen, he was an apprentice to Tobias Verhaeght.
 Around the same time, he studied under two of the city's leading
painters of the time, Adam Van Noort and Otto van Veen.
 Much of his early artistic trainning involved him copying earlier
artists' works, such as woodcuts by Hans Holbein the Younger
and Marcantonio Raimondi’s engravings after Raphael.
 Rubens finished his education in 1598 and entered the Guild of
St. Luke as an independent master.

3. TRAVEL AND INFLUENCES
 In 1600 Rubens traveled to Venice, Italy to study the paintings;
Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto then settled in Mantua.
 Rubens was great inspired and influenced by all three of these
works. His use of color and composition stemmed from Veronese
and Tintoretto while his mature style was inspired by the Titian.
 He was also fond of the work of Michaelangelo, Raphael,
Leonardo da Vinci and Caravaggio.
 While in Rome, Rubens completed his first alter-piece
commission, St. Helena with the True Cross.
 He traveled to Spain in 1603 in order to deliver gifts as part of a
diplomatic mission to Gonzagas from Phillip III.
 In 1604, it was back to Italy where he spent four more years. His
time was spent in Mantua, Genoa, and Rome. It was here he
painted several more paintings and began his book that would
Illustrate the palaces of the city.

4. TRAVEL CONTINUED
 His mother grew ill in 1608 and so Rubens traveled back to
Antwerp. He didn’t make it in time to see her before she died.
 1609, he was appointed the court painter for the Archduke of
Austria, Albert VII and Infanta Isabella Clara Eugene of Spain.
 In 1610 he moved into what would later become the Rubens
Museum.
 It was his workshop where both he and his apprentices created
most of their paintings.
 It held his personal art collection and library as well.
 His main pupil consisted of Anthony van Dyck, a Flemish
portraitist who collaborated frequently with Rubens.
 From 1627-1630, Rubens was sent on many diplomatic missions
between the courts of Spain and England in order to attempt to
bring peace.
 Rubens had the honor of being knighted, first by Philip IV of
Spain in 1624, and then by Charles I of England in 1630.
 He was awarded an honorary Master of the Arts degree from
Cambridge University in 1629.

5. END OF HIS LIFE
 His last few years were spent mostly in Antwerp.
 Commissions for foreign patrons still occupied him, but he also
explored more personal artistic directions.
 In 1630, four years after the death of his first wife, the 53-year-old
painter married 16-year-old Hélène Fourment. She was the
inspiration for his use of voluptuous figures in many of his
paintings from the 1630s.
 They included The Feast of Venus, The Three Graces, The
Judgment of Paris.
 In 1635, Rubens bought an estate outside of Antwerp, where he
created many of his landscape paintings.
 Rubens died from heart failure, which resulted from chronic gout
on May 30,1640.
 He was interred in Saint Jacob's church, Antwerp.
 He was survived by his eight children, three of whom were with
his first wife, Isabella and five with Hélène as well as his second
wife. His youngest child was born eight months after his death.

6. RUBEN’S ARTWORK
 He was most notably remembered for his
Baroque-styled paintings consisting of
portraits, landscapes, and religious historical
pieces, but also for his Counter-Reformation
alter-pieces.
 His Catholic religion truly inspired much of
his work, commenting that “My passion
comes from the heavens, not from earthly
musings.”

7. EXAMPLES

8. MORE EXAMPLES

9. ALTER-PIECES

10. MORE ALTER-PIECES

11. ACTIVITY
 You are going to create a self-portrait
 This will be done using only the bolder,
darker colors.
 Rubens loved using the dark colors in his
paintings because it gave the paintings depth
and a feeling of realism.