Lecture 32: Peter Paul Rubens
Rubens admired Marie and welcomed her to Antwerp during her exile. Like
Bernini, Rubens completely accepted the two great institutions of his time
and place, the absolute monarchy and the Roman Catholic Church.The Education of Marie de’Medici depicts Marie being educated by the
gods, with the Three Graces in attendance. Henry IV Receiving the Portrait
of Marie de’Medici shows the king receiving Marie’s portrait from an angel;
during this time of arranged dynastic marriages, aristocratic grooms often
received paintings of their betrothed before the wedding. Marie de’Medici
Landing in Marseilles presents Marie being welcomed by a personi¿ cation
of France (with À eur de lis), while the sea deities serve as her sailors as she
arrives in France.We now look at the St. Ildefonso Altarpiece (c. 1630–1632). The center panel
is the Virgin Appearing to St. Ildefonso, in which the Virgin, accompanied
by other female saints, appears to Ildefonso, a 7th-century Spanish abbot
and archbishop. In the vision, she presents him with a divine chasuble, the
priest’s outer garment. The left panel is Archduke Albert and His Patron
Saint. The right panel is Archduchess Isabella and Her Patron Saint. Rubens
depicts her as much younger, dressed in the archducal robes she had not worn
since donning a nun’s habit after her husband’s death. To commemorate her
husband’s life, Isabella commissioned this altarpiece for the Confraternity of
St. Ildefonso, founded by Albert in Lisbon when he was governor of Portugal.
He then moved to Brussels when he became co-regent of the Netherlands.After his ¿ rst wife’s death, Rubens was remarried in 1631 to Helene
Fourment, who was 16 years old when he was 53. Garden of Love
(c. 1632–1634) depicts him dancing with Helene in the garden of his
Antwerp home, which he designed in the 16th-century Genoese style. This
subject anticipates the pleasure scenes of 18th-century French painting but
with the fullness of form of the 17th century. Our next painting is Landscape
with the Chateau of Steen (c. 1636). The chateau was Rubens’s own home
that he bought in later years.As a diplomat in the service of Isabella, Rubens negotiated a peace treaty
between England and Spain and was knighted by both countries for his efforts.
The peace was short-lived though, and his beloved wife, Isabella Brandt,