in 1603 when he presented a number of paintings to
Philip III of Spain on behalf of Vincenzo Gonzaga, after
which he returned to Italy. His other major commissions
during this period were for a painting over the high altar
of the church of Sta. Maria in Vallicella and an Adoration
of the Shepherds for the church of San Filippo in Fermo, a
painting which owes much to the influence of Caravaggio.
Rubens returned to Antwerp in 1608 to attend his
mother’s deathbed, but she died before he could reach her.
The following decade saw Rubens establish himself as
the foremost artist of the COUNTER-REFORMATION, an as-
cendency that was partly enabled by the Twelve Years’
Truce (1609–21). This period of relative peace facilitated
the refurbishment of many Flemish churches, and Rubens
received numerous commissions for altarpieces. Among
these are The Raising of the Cross (1610–11) and The De-
scent from the Cross (1611–14), both for Antwerp cathe-
dral. During this period he married Isabella, daughter of
Jan Brant, a prominent Antwerp humanist, and he became
court painter to the Hapsburg regents, the Archduke Al-
bert and Archduchess Isabella. In addition to his large
number of religious works in the second decade of the
century, Rubens produced many secular paintings. These
include portraits, allegories, hunting scenes, and complex
mythological works, such as the Rape of the Daughters of
Leucippus (c. 1617–18).
During the next decade (1620–30) he engaged in a
number of diplomatic missions, which culminated in the
peace treaty between England and Spain (1630). However,
his artistic output did not diminish. In 1622 he was com-
missioned to paint a cycle of 21 large pieces (now in the
Louvre, Paris) for the Palais du Luxembourg, Paris, chron-
icling the life of Queen Marie de’ Medici. He also designed
a number of tapestry cycles, including The Triumph of the
Eucharist (1625–27), a sequence of 20 hangings. They are
masterpieces of Baroque illusionism, featuring an elabo-
rate trompe l’oeil architectural framework and tapestries-
within-tapestries. Rubens also undertook a number of
ecclesiastical commissions in this period, including the
richly expressive Adoration of the Magi (1624) for the
abbey of St. Michael and The Assumption of the Virgin
(1624–27) for Antwerp cathedral.
In the final decade of his life (1630–40) Rubens pro-
duced some of his finest paintings. For Charles I of Eng-
land he designed and painted nine canvases (1629–34) for
the ceiling of Inigo JONES’s newly rebuilt Banqueting
House at Whitehall Palace; they show the apotheosis of
Charles’s father James I as the Rex Pacificus, the Royal
Peacemaker. This period can also be characterized by a
broadening of his style. For example, his Landscape with a
Rainbow (c. 1636), painted at his country estate, is an al-
most impressionistic celebration of rural life. He also
painted intimate portraits of his family, especially his sec-
ond wife, Hélène Fourment, who also features as Venus in
such allegorical paintings as The Garden of Love (1634). A
self-portrait of c. 1631 shows him with Hélène and their
son Nicholas, walking among their poultry in their
Antwerp garden (Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen,
Munich).
Rubens was one of the most productive and influen-
tial figures of Western art, producing or supervising over
2,000 works covering religious and mythological subjects,
portraits, and landscapes. Famous for his robust female
figures, Rubens exemplifies the Baroque art of 17th-
century Europe. His painting, a synthesis of Italian Re-
naissance classicism and Flemish realism, influenced
many distinguished artists during his own lifetime, among
them Diego de Velázquez and Anthony van Dyck. Later
artists whose work was directly influenced by Rubens in-
clude the Rococo artist Antoine Watteau, the French Ro-
mantic painter Eugène Delacroix, and the English
landscapist Thomas Gainsborough.RRuubbeennss,, PPiieetteerr PPaauull 4 41199Pieter Paul RubensAn anatomical drawing of a man striding
forward with his hands behind his back. The artist has paid
great attention to the subject’s musculature.
© Christie’s Images/CORBIS