Rubens

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Sir Peter Paul Rubens was born on 28 June 1577 and passed away on 30 May 1640. He is widely regarded as the most notable artist of the Flemish Baroque school. A proponent of extravagant Baroque style, Rubens emphasized movement, color, and sensuality in his work. His art often featured Counter-Reformation altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects. Rubens was a humanist scholar and diplomat who ran a large studio in Antwerp that produced popular paintings among nobility and art collectors throughout Europe. He was knighted by both Philip IV of Spain and Charles I of England. Rubens' works are highly prolific, with 1,403 pieces listed in Michael Jaffé's catalogue, excluding numerous copies made in his workshop. His commissioned works were primarily history paintings, which included religious and mythological subjects, as well as hunt scenes. He painted portraits, especially of friends, and self-portraits, and later in life focused on landscapes. Rubens also designed tapestries, prints, and his own house. He oversaw the ephemeral decorations for the royal entry into Antwerp by Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand in 1635. Rubens' drawings are characterized as extremely forceful but not overly detailed. He made great use of oil sketches as preparatory studies. He was one of the last major artists to consistently use wooden panels as a support medium, even for large works, and used canvas when the work needed to be sent long distances. For altarpieces, he sometimes painted on slate to reduce reflection problems.