RUBENS, PETER PAUL (1577-1640), Flemish painter, was born at Siegen, in Westphalia, on June 29, 1577. His father, Johannes Rubens, a druggist, although of humble descent, was a man of learning, and councillor and alderman in his native town (1562). A Roman Catholic by birth, he adopted the Reformed faith, and we find him spoken of as le plus docte Calviniste qui fust pour lors au Bas Pays. After the plundering of the Antwerp churches in 1566, Johannes Rubens hastily quitted Spanish soil, ultimately settling at Cologne (October 1568) with his wife and four children.
Here he became legal adviser to Anne of Saxony, the second wife of the prince of Orange, William the Silent. Before long it was discovered that their relations were not purely of a business kind. Rubens was imprisoned at Dillenburg for two years, and after that he was confined to the small town of Siegen. Here he lived with his family from 1573 to 1578, and here Maria Pype lincx gave birth to Peter Paul. A year after (May 1578) he returned to Cologne, where he died on March 18, 1587.
Rubens went to Antwerp with his mother when he was scarcely ten years of age. He was an excellent Latin scholar. Part of his boyhood he spent as a page in the household of the countess of Lalaing at Audenarde but soon his mother allowed him to follow his proper vocation, choosing as his master Tobias Verhaecht, a landscape painter. From 1592-96 he worked under Adam Van Noort, whose aspect of energy is well known through Van Dyck's beautiful etching, the highly esteemed master of numerous painters —among them Jordaens, later his son-in-law. Rubens thereafter studied under Otto Vaenius of Van Veen, a gentleman by birth and a court painter to archduke Albrecht, sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands. In 1598, Adam Van Noort acting as dean of the Antwerp gild of painters, Rubens was officially recognized as "master." His style at this early period may be judged from the "Annunciation" in the Vienna Museum.
From 1600 to the latter part of 16o8 Rubens belonged to the household of Vincenzo Gonzaga, duke of Mantua. The duke, who spent some time at Venice in July 1600, had his attention drawn by one of his courtiers to Rubens's genius, and induced him to enter his service. The influence of the master's stay at Mantua was of extreme importance to his artistic de velopment. Sent to Rome in 16o1, to take copies from Raphael for his master, he was also commissioned to paint several pictures for the church of Santa Croce, by archduke Albrecht. "St. Helena with the Cross," "The Crowning with Thorns" and "The Cruci fixion" are to be found in the hospital at Grasse in Provence.
At the beginning of 1603, "The Fleming," as he was termed at Mantua, was sent to Spain with a variety of presents for Philip III. and his minister the duke of Lerma, and thus had opportunity to spend a whole year at Madrid and become ac quainted with some of Titian's masterpieces. Among his own works, known to belong to the same period, in the Madrid Gallery, are "Heraclitus" and "Democritus." Of Rubens's abilities so far back as 1604 we get a more complete idea from an immense picture now in the Antwerp Gallery, the "Baptism of Our Lord," originally painted for the Jesuits at Mantua. Here may be seen the influence of Italian surroundings on the painter. Vigorous in design, he reminds us of Michelangelo, while in decorative skill he seems to be descended from Titian and in colouring from Giulio Romano. Executed simultaneously with this picture, were "The Transfiguration," now in the museum at Nancy, and the portraits of "Vincenzo and his Consort, kneeling before the Trinity," in the library at Mantua. To i6o6 belong a large altar-piece of
"The Circumcision" at St. Ambrogio at Genoa, the "Virgin in a Glory of Angels," and two groups of Saints, painted on the wall, at both sides of the high altar in the church of Santa Maria in Valicella in Rome.
While employed at Rome in 1608, Rubens received alarming news of his mother's health. He at once set out for the Netherlands. When he arrived in Antwerp, Maria Pypelincx was no more. His wish to return to Italy was overruled by the express desire of his sovereigns, Albrecht and Isabella, to see him take up a permanent residence in the Belgian provinces. On Sept. 23, 1609, Rubens was named painter in ordi nary to their Highnesses, with a salary of 5oo livres, and "the rights, honours, privileges, exemptions," etc., belonging to persons of the royal household, not to speak of the gift of a gold chain. Not least in importance for the painter was his complete exemp tion from all the regulations of the gild of St. Luke, entitling him to engage any pupils or fellow-workers without being obliged to have them enrolled—a favour which has been of considerable trouble to the historians of Flemish art. By order of the munici pality he painted the first among the numerous repetitions of the "Adoration of the Magi," a picture in the Madrid Gallery, measur ing 12 ft. by 17, and containing 28 life-size figures, many in gorgeous attire, warriors in armour, horsemen, slaves, camels, etc. Apart from his success, another powerful motive had helped to detain the master in Antwerp—his marriage with Isabella Brant (Oct. 13, 1609). Many pictures have made us familiar with Isabella. We meet her at The Hague, Leningrad, Berlin, Florence, but more especially at Munich, where Rubens and his wife are depicted at full length on the same canvas. "His wife is very handsome," observes Sir Joshua Reynolds, "and has an agreeable countenance"; but the picture, he adds, "is rather hard in man ner." This, it must be noted, is the case with all those pictures known to have immediately followed Rubens's return, when he was still dependent on the assistance of painters trained by others than himself. Even in the "Raising of the Cross," now in the Antwerp cathedral, and painted for the church of St. Walburga in 161o, the dryness in outline is striking. The picture is tripartite, but the wings only serve to develop the central composition, and add to the general effect. In Witdoeck's beautiful engraving the partitions disappear. Thus, from the first, we see Rubens quite determined upon having his own way, and it is recorded that, when he painted the "Descent from the Cross," "St. Christopher," the subject chosen by the Arquebusiers, was altered so as to bring the artistic expressions into better accordance with his views. Although the subject was frequently repeated by the great painter, this first "Descent from the Cross" has not ceased to be looked upon as his masterpiece. Begun in 161i, the celebrated work was placed in 1614. Rubens received 2,400 florins for this picture. In many respects, Italian influence remains conspicuous in the "Descent from the Cross." Rubens had seen Ricciarelli's fresco at the Trinita de' Monti, and was also acquainted with the grandiose picture of Baroccio in the cathedral of Perugia. But in Rubens strength of personality could not be overpowered by reminiscence ; and the "Descent from the Cross" may be termed thoroughly Flemish.