Q.
It’s remarkable to see the impact that certain high profile artists have on the places they live. As he set off from his home town of Antwerp as a young man, Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) could not have predicted the artistic gravity of his Belgian homecoming. How did it all come to be?

.

A.

In 1600, Peter Paul Rubens left Antwerp to study and paint in Italy. But, eight years later, when he learned his mother was dying, he returned home.

Rubens was conflicted about staying in Belgium: ‘I have not yet made up my mind whether to remain in my own country Flanders or to return forever to Rome, where I am invited on the most favourable terms.’  But, it was in Antwerp, over the next decade, that Rubens went on to create some of his most striking work.

In so doing, Rubens inspired artists of all stripes, academics, and entrepreneurs.

Rubens astonished with his “vibrant, naturalistic color and his virtuoso brushwork,” said Kirk Nickel, assistant curator of European painting at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. ‘His inclination to work quickly and at a large scale was essential for Rubens’ success in repopulating the city’s churches with religious images, even while he painted startling episodes of ancient valor, obscure Greco-Roman mythologies, and unsettling moments of biblical history for private collectors.”

A sampling of his work from this period, much of which was included in an exhibit co-curated by San Francisco’s Legion of Honor Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario in 2019-20 …

.

.

Self Portrait in a Circle of Friends from Mantua. 1602-1605

.

The Holy Family with Saint Elizabeth, Saint John, and a Dove. 1608/09

.

The Annunciation. 1609

.

Philippe Rubens, The Artist’s Brother. 1610-11

.

The Dreaming Silenus. 1610-12

.

Daniel in the Lions’ Den. 1614/16

.

Head of Medusa. 1617-18

.

Portrait of Isabella Brant. 1620-25

.

www.justcurious.ca

Header: Portrait of Sara Breyel. 1611