from whom he was separated for long periods during the negotiations, died
in 1626. The landscape stretches to the Earth’s end, as it does in Bruegel’s
landscape painting. As Rubens’s health deteriorated in 1640, all the courts
of Europe asked to be kept informed of his condition. He died in Antwerp in
May 1640.
Rubens had a large workshop for the production of commissions, and many
of his assistants began as pupils or apprentices. None was more famous than
Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641), who as a teenager, painted independent
works and was often requested by patrons when Rubens delegated work.
Van Dyck’s Charles I of England (c. 1635) is one of his most elegant and
admired royal portraits. He was an excellent painter of mythologies and
religious themes, and in later centuries, his portraits ranked among the most
inÀ uential and sought-after among his works. Charles I was the greatest
collector among English monarchs, and he made van Dyck his court painter
for a decade.
The approach of the Cromwellian revolution coincided with the death
of Rubens, and van Dyck returned to Antwerp to take over the master’s
studio. But his health failed, and he returned again to London, where despite
treatment by the king’s personal physician, he died at age 42. The king’s
portrait, with the rest of his collection, was sold by Cromwell; it became part
of the French royal collection and is now in the Louvre. Ŷ
Peter Paul Rubens:
Deposition Altarpiece, 1612–14, oil on panel, central panel:
13’ 9 ¼” x 10’ 2” (4.19 x 3.1 m), Antwerp Cathedral,
Antwerp, Belgium.
Education of Marie de’Medici, 1622–25, oil on canvas, 12’ 11” x 9’ 8”
(3.94 x 2.95 m), from the Medici Cycle, Musée du Louvre,
Paris, France.
Garden of Love, c. 1632–34, oil on canvas, 6’ 6 ¾” x 9’ 2 ¼”
(2 x 2.8 m), Museo del Prado, Prado, Spain.Works Discussed