Rubens, Peter Paul 1577-1640
Flemish painter

Rubens was born in Siegen in Westphalia, the son of a lawyer. He studied from 1587 in Antwerp, and in 1600 went to Italy; in Venice he studied the works of Titian and Veronese. He next entered the service of Vincenzo Gonzago, Duke of Mantua; and in 1605 was dispatched on a mission to Philip III of Spain, thus beginning his career as a diplomat. While in Madrid he executed many portraits, as well as several historical subjects.

On his return from Spain he travelled in Italy, copying celebrated works for the Duke of Mantua. His paintings of this Italian period are much influenced by the Italian Renaissance, and already show the Rubens characteristics of vigorous composition and brilliant colouring. In 1608 he returned home, and, settling in Antwerp, was appointed court painter to the archduke Albert (1609), and soon afterwards married his first wife, Isabella Brant, whom he often portrayed.

Rubens was then approaching his artistic maturity, and his triptych Descent from the Cross (1611-14) in Antwerp Cathedral is usually regarded as his masterpiece. By this time he was famous, and pupils and commissions came in a steady stream to the master's studio, from which issued vast numbers of works, witnesses to his extraordinary energy and ability. In 1620 he was invited to France by Marie de M�dicis, who was then engaged in decorating the Luxembourg Palace in Paris; and he undertook for her 21 large subjects on her life and regency.

In 1628 he was dispatched on a diplomatic mission to Philip IV of Spain. In Madrid he made the acquaintance of Vel�zquez, and executed some 40 works, including five portraits of the Spanish monarch. In 1629 he was appointed envoy to Charles I of Great Britain, to treat for peace; and, while he conducted a delicate negotiation with tact and success, he painted the Peace and War (National Gallery, London) and also made sketches for the Apotheosis of James VI and I for the banqueting hall at Whitehall, completing the pictures on his return to Antwerp.

His first wife died in 1626, and in 1630 he married Helena Fourment, retiring to his estate at Steen, where he turned to landscape painting. In 1635 he designed the decorations which celebrated the entry of the Cardinal Infant Ferdinand into Antwerp as Governor of the Netherlands; and, having completed The Crucifixion of St Peter for the church of St Peter in Cologne, he died in Antwerp.

Rubens was a successful diplomat, a distinguished humanist, a man of wide erudition and culture, and in his own time was outstanding for versatility and for the power, spirit and vivacity of his artistic output.

Bibliography: N Gerson, Peter Paul Rubens: A Biography of a Giant (1973); J Fletcher, Peter Paul Rubens (1968); C V Wedgwood, The World of Rubens, 1577-1640 (1967).