he adorned with a picture of the medieval
Pope Gregory admiring an icon of the Vir-
gin Mary. Having well absorbed Italian hu-
manism and classicism, he returned to
Antwerp in 1609 and began to transform
northern European painting. He became a
court painter for the governor of the Span-
ish Netherlands (modern Belgium) and
built a studio and workshop in Antwerp,
where he completed several important al-
tarpieces for local churches. He became a
renowned print designer, working in both
metal and wood to create illustrations and
title pages for books. A devout Roman
Catholic, he showed reverence for tradi-
tional biblical scenes but also used shadow
and contrasting, vivid colors to give his
pictures a dramatic and very modern look.
By the 1620s Rubens was known
throughout Europe. His workshop in
Antwerp trained several leading painters,
including Anthony Van Dyck. Rubens had
several assistants complete his design for a
major painting,The Assumption of the Vir-
gin Mary, which was raised in the cathe-
dral of Antwerp. He was also commis-
sioned by Marie de Médicis, widow of the
French king Henri IV, to create a series of
works describing her life. The twenty-one
paintings of this cycle were to hang in the
royal Palace of Luxembourg.
Rubens was also trusted with diplo-
matic missions by the king of Spain, who
sought an agreement with the Dutch Neth-
erlands that would keep Spain in control
of its colony. He helped settle a treaty be-
tween England and Spain in 1630. This
work earned him the honor of a knight-
hood from King Philip IV of Spain as well
as King Charles I of England. For Charles
IhecreatedAllegory of Peace and War,a
huge ceiling painting done for London’s
Whitehall Palace.
In the 1630s Rubens completed several
of his most famous creations, including
The Feast of Venus, The Three Graces, and
The Judgment of Paris. Inspired by the
country around Antwerp and his estate,
the Chateau de Steen, he mastered land-
scape painting in works such asFarmers
Returning from the Fields, which took their
themes and style from the works of Pieter
Brueghel.SEEALSO: Brueghel, Pieter; Médicis, Marie
de; TitianRudolf II .........................................
(1552–1612)
Holy Roman Emperor of the Habsburg dy-
nasty from 1576 until his death in 1612,
and who also reigned as the king of Bohe-
mia and of Hungary. The son of Emperor
Maximilian II and Maria of Spain, Rudolf
was educated at the court of King Philip II
of Spain, Maximilian’s cousin. Philip in-
spired him with devotion to Catholicism
and a determination to stamp out Protes-
tantism in Habsburg lands—a policy that
ran counter to the religious tolerance of
Maximilian.
On the death of Maximilian in 1576,
Rudolf as the eldest son inherited the Hab-
sburg throne. He brought members of the
Jesuit sect to Germany, seeking to convert
his Protestant subjects. Rather than return-
ing Habsburg territories to Catholicism,
however, this policy inspired widespread
opposition and outright revolt.
In 1604, a rebellion against Rudolf’s
policies broke out in Hungary, where the
opponents of the Habsburgs, under the
leadership of Istvan Bocskay, allied them-
selves with the Ottoman Turks. After this
event Rudolf’s brother Matthias seized
control of Hungary, Austria, and Moravia,
at the invitation of nobles in those lands
who sought a more tolerant sovereign. In
response, Rudolf offered the Letter of Maj-
esty to the Estates of Bohemia, a promiseRudolf II