ABSTRACT
The greatest genius of Flemish Baroque, Peter Paul Rubens, was a man of prodigious energy and commitment to life. He gazes sharply at the viewer from under a wide-brimmed hat, the slight downward curve of his lips injecting a sober note into the artist's flare for courtly bravado. In the more "finished" painted version, Rubens stands by a column, one hand gloved and the other resting on the hilt of a sword. From 1609 to 1621, Rubens painted a large number of works for the cathedral of Antwerp and the city's churches. The sword, animated by light highlights, together with the sense that his hand plays over its surface, reflects the inherent vitality of Rubens the artist, whose legacy includes some eighteen hundred paintings, the man who was devoted to his family, and the diplomat actively engaged in the politics of his time. Rubens was himself a devout Catholic and, like Bernini, produced imagery that satisfied post-Tridentine, Counter-Reformation requirements.
