Sir Peter Paul Rubens

Flemish, 1577 - 1640

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Flemish painter (1577–1640)

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Abraham van Diepenbeeck, Sir Peter Paul Rubens, The Conversion of Saint Paul, 1640s, pen and ink and oil paint over black chalk on brown paper, laid down on canvas, Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund, 1999.25.1

The Conversion of Saint Paul

Abraham van Diepenbeeck, Sir Peter Paul Rubens · 1640s · pen and ink and oil paint over black chalk on brown paper, laid down on canvas ·  Accession ID  1999.25.1

Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Theodoor van Thulden, Rudolf I and Albert I with Pallas, in or after 1635, brush and brown ink with white oil paint over red chalk on oiled paper; verso incised for transfer, Gift of Mr. Emile Wolf, 1982.80.1

Rudolf I and Albert I with Pallas

Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Theodoor van Thulden · in or after 1635 · brush and brown ink with white oil paint over red chalk on oiled paper; verso incised for transfer ·  Accession ID  1982.80.1

A man and woman greet each other at the center of a group of about a dozen people set within a landscape in this horizontal painting. All the people have pale, peachy skin. In the middle of the crowd, a woman, Abigail, kneels to our left while a man to our right, David, reaches out to her. Abigail’s blond hair is tied back under a white veil that drapes over her shoulders, and she wears a slate-blue dress and a string of pearls around her neck. She holds her left hand, on our right, to her chest and her other hand gestures down to a basket of bread held by a man in the lower left corner of the painting. David stands and bends toward Abigail as he cups her bent elbow with his left hand. His other hand rests on a walking stick near her head, and his index finger is extended as if to brush her cheek. He has short, curly blond hair and beard, and he wears a thigh-length tunic under a breastplate. Crimson-red fabric drapes around his shoulders and over his armor, and a dagger or short sword hangs at his hip. Three women, three men, and a donkey gather to our left, behind Abigail. Two of the men hold large baskets of bread, and they all look toward Abigail and David. Six armored men, two younger people, and two horses make up the group to the right. Trees line a hill behind the people to our left and dark gray and amber-colored clouds fill the sky.
Sir Peter Paul Rubens, The Meeting of David and Abigail, c. 1630, oil on panel, Bequest of Lore Heinemann in memory of her husband, Dr. Rudolf J. Heinemann, 1997.57.8

The Meeting of David and Abigail

Sir Peter Paul Rubens · c. 1630 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1997.57.8

A seated woman with an infant on her lap and three children are clustered on a terrace overlooking green hills and a body of water in this square painting. They all have pale skin with flushed cheeks. The group is centered in the composition, and the woman sits to our left, facing our right, almost in profile. The wooden chair is upholstered in scarlet-red fabric and a large slate-blue bird perches on the backrest. Gold-edged, red drapery hangs behind the woman, suspended from stone columns on either side of her. The woman’s brown hair is covered by a frilly, silvery-gray cap with a matching shawl layered over a short, three-quarter sleeve jacket. Her fern-green skirt, covered with a pattern of coral-red flowers and gold vines, gleams in the soft light coming from behind us. A thin black band encircles her neck, and a round, black earring dangles from the ear we can see. She bows her head slightly and gazes down at the children. The infant lies across her lap with its head coming toward us, its chubby arms reaching up to the woman while turning to look at the three standing children. They appear to be a young boy and two girls, and they all have blond hair, large brown eyes, and delicate rose-red mouths. They crowd together at the woman’s knees. The boy is taller than the girls and stands behind them, visible from the shoulders up. He is dressed in red garments and stands almost in profile to gaze up at the woman. The girls turn their heads to look directly at us. At the center of the trio, the taller girl wears a long, voluminous brown gown. Her hair is pulled back and long ringlets frame her face. She also wears round black earrings and two delicate black cords around her neck, one of which holds a gold ring. At the front, the shortest girl wears a black and white gown with a sheer neckerchief along neckline, and she rests one arm across the woman’s lap. The girl’s long, puffy, black sleeves are slashed to create openings for white fabric to show through. Her hair is also upswept with ringlets framing her face. To the right of the group is a column made of two creatures with pink female heads, faces, and nude torsos with scaly, olive-green, twisting, snake-like legs. One creature faces us and the other faces our right. The sky beyond the terrace is filled with clouds that transition from slate gray at the top to tan and rust orange where it meets the distant hills.
Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob Jordaens, Deborah Kip, Wife of Sir Balthasar Gerbier, and Her Children, 1629/1630, reworked probably mid 1640s, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1971.18.1

Deborah Kip, Wife of Sir Balthasar Gerbier, and Her Children

Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob Jordaens · 1629/1630, reworked probably mid 1640s · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1971.18.1

This horizontal painting shows a tapestry being unfurled and held up by winged, baby-like putti against a structure with gray and gold columns, seen at the edges of the composition. Taking up most of the composition, the tapestry shows two ranks of men, women, and children gathered behind two central men, who meet at the center. All the people have light or tanned skin, and the bodies we can see are muscular. In the central pair of men, the one to our left, Abraham, faces our right in profile as he holds two loaves of bread. He has a brown beard and short, wavy hair, and dark brows over a prominent nose. He looks at the other man with dark eyes and leans toward him, to our right. Abraham wears an armored breastplate over silver chainmail edged with gold, which falls to mid-thigh. A crimson-red cape wraps around his shoulders and swirls around his back. A sword hangs by his hip, and tan sandals cover his heels and shins. Behind him are seven men and one brown horse, who gnaws at its foreleg. Most of the men are bearded and five wear armored helmets. A cleanshaven man wearing a lavender-purple tunic stands with his arm slung over the horse’s neck, holding the rein between thumb and forefinger. The man to our right, Melchizedek has a long white beard and short white hair. His red cap is encircled with a wreath of dark green leaves. He wears a long-sleeved, waist-length, aquamarine-blue garment over a white skirt. A heavy, golden-yellow cape with a broad, white fur collar and lining drapes over his shoulders, and is supported by at least one attendant. Behind and around Melchizedek are eight men, women, and children, standing near stone, gray ruins. Behind Melchizedek, one portly person wearing a dark pink mantle reaches into a basket of bread held across the shoulders of a blond, bearded, bare-chested man. Closer to us, in the lower right corner of the tapestry, one man wearing a green toga and another wearing blue kneel and sit, holding oversized silver and gold urns, the size of their torsos. The man in blue, to our right, turns to look at us over his shoulder. A third large urn sits near the other man. A view into the landscape with a low, green hill and a pale blue sky is glimpsed between the groups. The tapestry showing this scene curls over at the edges where the pudgy angels lift the top edge. The top right corner of the tapestry wraps around the edge of an unseen feature of the building, next to a gray column that rises the height of the painting up along the right edge. The border of the tapestry is rose pink with stylized gold designs. One putto with brown hair holds up the left corner, and one with light gray hair holds up the middle one arm slung over the front of the tapestry. The third putto, with blond hair, hooks an arm over a leafy garland with fruit that hangs from the cornice near the top center of the composition.
Sir Peter Paul Rubens, The Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek, c. 1626, oil on panel, Gift of Syma Busiel, 1958.4.1

The Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek

Sir Peter Paul Rubens · c. 1626 · oil on panel ·  Accession ID  1958.4.1

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Palazzi di Genova (vol. 2)

Sir Peter Paul Rubens · published 1622 · 1 vol: ill: ·  Accession ID  1985.61.2657

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Palazzi di Genova (vol. 1)

Sir Peter Paul Rubens · published 1622 · 1 vol: ill: ·  Accession ID  1985.61.2656

Shown from the chest up, a man with peach-colored skin sits in profile facing our left with downcast eyes in this vertical painting. He has a chestnut-brown beard and hair, brown eyes under thick brows, a slightly bumped nose, and pale, coral-pink lips. His nose and cheeks are tinged with pink. His robe is vibrant rose pink over the shoulders and scarlet red over his arms. The two colors are separated by a band of gold fringe. A bright, zigzagging line along the neckline could be a necklace or the edge of a white collar. He holds a lidded vessel near his left shoulder, closer to us. One hand tips the lid off the rounded bowl held in his other hand, which is cut off by the bottom edge of the canvas. The cup and lid are embellished with a row of bulging bosses around their edges. Inside the vessel is a glimpse of rounded, dark brown objects. The man is lit from the upper left, and the background is a mottled olive green and ginger brown.
Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Head of One of the Three Kings: Melchior, The Assyrian King, c. 1618, oil on panel transferred to canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1943.7.9

Head of One of the Three Kings: Melchior, The Assyrian King

Sir Peter Paul Rubens · c. 1618 · oil on panel transferred to canvas ·  Accession ID  1943.7.9

Pieter Claesz Soutman, Sir Peter Paul Rubens, The Defeat of Sennacherib, 1618-1620, black chalk and pen and black ink with gray wash on laid paper, Andrew W. Mellon Fund, 1978.53.1

The Defeat of Sennacherib

Pieter Claesz Soutman, Sir Peter Paul Rubens · 1618-1620 · black chalk and pen and black ink with gray wash on laid paper ·  Accession ID  1978.53.1

A bearded man with copper-blond hair and flushed, peachy skin stands on a stone-gray pedestal and gestures toward a group of five more men gathered before him in this square painting. Some of the men are light-skinned, others are tan. The man on the platform, Decius Mus, stands with his ruddy face turned to our right in profile, his muscular right arm raised and right foot extended. He wears a knee-length toga, and form-fitting armor covers his torso. A sword hangs from his waist, and a scarlet-red cape flaps behind him. Piled against the pedestal in the lower left are spears, battle axes, a silvery-gray shield covered with gold lightning bolts, and an ornate crested helmet. In the upper left corner, an eagle with one wing extended hovers behind Decius Mus’s head, clutching long peach and straw-colored strands in its talons. The other five men stand clustered together on the ground to our right, facing Decius Mus. They are also bearded and muscular, and each holds a golden staff topped with a different symbol. They wear knee-length tunics and cloaks in brick red, olive green, black, or tan, and three wear armor protecting their upper bodies. Calf-high, brown boots cover their feet but leave their toes exposed. The man closest to us has gray hair and stands with his back to us. A parchment-brown animal skin speckled with brown spots covers the back of his head and wraps around his armor and tunic. The man just beyond him, to our left, faces us and holds a gold staff topped with an eagle set within a round laurel wreath. The rest of the men stand in profile, filling the right side of the composition, and they lean in toward Decius Mus. Two of them wear crested helmets, one olive green, the other charcoal gray, both with gold ornamentation on the front. The man in the gray helmet holds aloft a flag painted with vertical swipes of scarlet red and ginger brown. A sketchily painted landscape beyond the group has trees with dark brown trunks and sage-green leaves along the left edge, leading back to a line of trees in the distance. Rolling, teal-blue land along the horizon could be hazy mountains. The powder-blue sky above is scattered with butter-yellow and light gray clouds. The scene is loosely painted, especially in the costumes and background.
Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Decius Mus Addressing the Legions, probably 1616, oil on hardboard, transferred from wood and canvas, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1957.14.2

Decius Mus Addressing the Legions

Sir Peter Paul Rubens · probably 1616 · oil on hardboard, transferred from wood and canvas ·  Accession ID  1957.14.2

Bibliography

1753

  • Houbraken, Arnold. De Groote Schouburgh der Nederlantsche Konstschilders en Schilderessen. 3 vols. in 1. The Hague, 1753 (Reprint: Amsterdam, 1976): 1:62-74.

1883

  • Branden, Franz Joseph van den. Geschiedenis der Antwerpsche Schilderschool. Antwerp, 1883: 358-383, 409-430, 482-590.

1887

  • Rooses, Max, and Charles L. Ruelens, eds. Correspondence de Rubens et documents épistolaires concernant sa vie et ses oeuvres. (Codex diplomaticus Rubenianus). 6 vols. Antwerp, 1887-1909.

1940

  • Puyvelde, Leo van. Les Esquisses de Rubens. Basel, 1940.

1955

  • Magurn, Ruth Saunders, trans. and ed. The Letters of Peter Paul Rubens. Cambridge, 1955.

1968

  • Stechow, Wolfgang. Rubens and the Classical Tradition. Cambridge, 1968.

1971

  • Bie, Cornelis de. Het gulden cabinet van de edel vry schilderconst. Edited by Gerard Lemmens. Reprint of Antwerp, 1661/1662. Soest, 1971: 56-59.

1980

  • Held, Julius S. The Oil Sketches of Peter Paul Rubens. A Critical Catalogue. 2 vols. Princeton, 1980.

1987

  • White, Christopher. Peter Paul Rubens: Man and Artist. New Haven and London, 1987.

1991

  • Morford, Mark. Stoics and Neostoics: Rubens and the Circle of Lipsius. Princeton, 1991.

1993

  • Sutton, Peter C., and Marjorie E. Wiesemand, et al. The Age of Rubens. Exh. cat. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Toledo (Ohio) Museum of Art. Boston, 1993.

2005

  • Wheelock, Arthur K., Jr. Flemish Paintings of the Seventeenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2005: 144-145.