Peter Paul Rubens

1
Peter Paul Rubens

• By Jordan LaPorta

2
Overview

• Lived June 28, 1577-May 30 1640 (Baroque Period)
• Flemish painter and diplomat
• Staunch Roman Catholic (Counter-Reformation Era)
• Elaborate paintings with religious, mythological,
  historical, and sensuous themes
• Also a portrait painter

3
Early Life

• Born in Siegen, Germany to Calvinist Father
• After his father was imprisoned for having an
  affair with the second wife of William of Orange,
  He and his mother fled to Antwerp
• Raised a Roman Catholic
• Humanist education
• Greek and Latin classic literature
• Studied Antwerps best artists
• Tobias Varhoeght, Adam Van Noort, Otto Van Veen
• Traveled to Italy (Venice) in 1600 to study the
  works of Verose, Titian, Tintoretto, Raphael, and
  Michelangelo
• Absorbed Italian Humanism and Classicism and
  returned to Antwerp to transform Northern
  European art

4
Biography

• Called back to Rome and commissioned to paint
  altarpieces for recently Christened Catholic
  Churches
• Church of Santa Croce, Santa Maria in Vallicella
  (Madonna adored by the angels)
• Married Isabella Brant in 1609
• Rubens and Isabella Brant in the Honeysuckle
  Bower
• Court painter in the Spanish Netherlands
  (Belgium)
• Altarpieces for local Churches
• Marie de Medici Cycle
• 1621-1630
• The Assumption of the Virgin Mary
• 1625-1626
• One of his most prominent works

5
Biography

• Had many assistant but his most prominent protégé
  was Anthony Van Dyck
• Allegory of Peace and War
• 1629
• For Charles I of England
• Charles Knighted Rubens
• History of Constantine the Great
• Rubenss sketches inspired the tapestries
• Life of Constantine
• Triumph of the Eucharist
• Ca. 1626-1633
• Last work 39 ceiling frescoes for a Jesuit
  Church in Antwerp
• Completed shortly before death, burned down in
  1718

6
Style

• As a devout Roman Catholic he did many Bible
  scenes
• Mythological works inspired by his secular
  education
• Used shadow, contrasting, and vivid colors
• Figures portrayed have a fleshy and built
  appearance
• Terms Rubenesque figures
• Style influenced most other artists throughout
  the Baroque period

7
Assumption of the Virgin

• 1626
• High altarpiece for Cathedral in Antwerp
• Choir of Angels carries Mary into Heaven
• The 12 Apostles mourn her death
• Two women are believed to be Mary Magdalene and
  Marys two sisters

8
Marie de Medici Cycle

• Series of 21 paintings commissioned by Marie de
  Medici (wife of Henry IV of France) for the
  Luxembourg Palace
• Depict Maries own life struggles and triumphs
• Often include mythological figures

9
The Judgment of Paris

• Based off the story from Greek mythology that led
  up to the Trojan War and in later versions, the
  foundation of Rome
• Ca. 1636

10
Elevation of the Cross Descent From The Cross

• Both Triptychs housed in the Cathedral at Antwerp
• Elevation of the Cross is a much brighter
  painting, while the descent is covered in shadow
  with the exception of the area surrounding Christ
• Completed by Rubens shortly after his return from
  Rome and showed many Italian influences

11
The Hippopotamus Hunt

• Typical Rubens painting full of energy and lust
  also includes many colors and contrast
• Ca. 1616

12
The Massacre of the Innocents

• The painting is based off of the story from the
  Gospel of Matthew
• Originally part of the Vienna Art Collection upon
  Completion in 1612
• Obvious evidence of chiaroscuro

13
The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus

• Tells the story of how two brothers, Castor and
  Pollux, kidnap and forcibly marry the two
  daughters of King Leucippus
• The story recounted by Theocritus and Ovid
• Ca. 1615-1618

14
Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Lerma

• Painted during Rubenss first trip to Spain in
  1603
• Chiaroscuro technique evident in contrast of
  light and dark
• Depicts Don Francisco Gomez de Sandoval y Rojas,
  the favorite of King Phillip III

15
St. George and the Dragon

• Classic story of St. George slaying the Dragon
• Unique depiction in the way that the dragon is at
  the very bottom of the image
• Action in progress
• Chiaroscuro
• Maiden in the background watching in admiration