The king now commissioned Rubens to go to London as bearer of his views to Charles I., and the painter, honoured with the title of secretary of the king's privy council in the Netherlands, arrived in London just as peace had been concluded with France. He induced Charles to engage in no undertakings against Spain so long as the negotiations remained unconcluded, and he remained immovable in this resolution. The tardiness of the Spanish court in sending a regular ambassador involved the unfortunate painter in distressing anxieties, and the tone of his despatches is very hitter. But he speaks with the greatest admiration of England. On September 23, 1629, the University of Cambridge conferred upon him the honorary degree of master of arts, and on February 21, 163o, he was knighted. During his stay in England Rubens, besides his sketches for the decoration of the Banqueting Hall at Whitehall, painted the admirable picture of "The Blessings of Peace" now in the National Gallery.
Rubens was now fifty-three years of age, he had been four years a widower, and in December 163o he contracted a second marriage with a beautiful girl of sixteen, named Helena Fourment. She was an admirable model, and often appears in his works.
Ferdinand of Austria, the cardinal-infant of Spain, the new governor of the Netherlands, arrived at Antwerp in May 1635. The streets had been decorated with triumphal arches and "spec tacula," arranged by Rubens. Several of the paintings detached from the arches were offered as presents to the new governor general, which accounts for the presence of many of these works in public galleries (Vienna, Dresden, Brussels, etc.). The painter
was confirmed in his official standing. The last years of his life, however, were employed in working much more for the king than for his brother. About a hundred and twenty paintings of con siderable size left Antwerp for Madrid in 1637, 1638 and 1639; they were intended to decorate the pavilion erected at the Pardo, and known under the name of Torre de la Parada. Another series had been begun, when Ferdinand wrote to Madrid that the painter was no more, and Jordaens would finish the work. Rubens breathed his last on May 3o, 1640.
Rubens left the world in the midst of his glory. Not the slightest failing of mind or skill can be detected even in his latest works, such as the "Martyrdom of St. Peter" at Cologne, the "Martyrdom of St. Thomas" at Prague, or the "Judgment of Paris" at Madrid, where his young wife appears for the last time.
Rubens was a Fleming throughout, notwithstanding his frequent recollections of those Italian masters whom he most admired. But it must be borne in mind how completely his predecessors were frozen into stiffness through italianization, and how necessary it was to bring back the Flemish school to life and nature. In no other school do we find these animated hunts of lions, tigers, and even the hippopotamus and the crocodile, in which life and nature are displayed with the utmost power. "His horses are perfect in their kind," says Reynolds ; his dogs are of the strong Flemish breed, and his landscapes the most charming pictures of Braban tine scenery, in the midst of which lay his seat of Steen. As a portrait painter, he shows Van Dyck the way; and his pure fancy subjects, as the "Garden of Love" (Madrid and Dresden) and the "Village Feast" (Louvre), have never been equalled.
Paintings by Rubens are found in all the principal galleries in Europe.
In America, the Metropolitan Museum of Art contains his "Return of the Holy Family from Egypt," "The Holy Family," and others ; the Frick Collection, also in New York City, has his "Ambrose Spinola." The Cleveland Museum of Art contains his "Triumph of the Holy Sacrament over Folly"; the Joseph Widener Collection, Philadelphia, his "Rape of the Sabine Women"; the Detroit Institute of Arts, his "Abigail Meeting David with Presents"; and the Gardner Museum, Boston, his "Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel."