ABSTRACT
The painter Peter Paul Rubens was born when his parents fled Antwerp because of the war that broke out in 1568. When Rubens died in 1640, it would be another eight years before the Peace of Münster and Osnabrück ended this eighty-year war. The works of this painter, celebrated throughout Europe, and his well-documented life provide ample material for reflecting on the ideas of safety that were prevalent at his time. In a small selection of close readings of individual paintings, the text provides exemplary insight into images and notions of safety in insecure times.
