Peter Paul Rubens - Antwerp, Belgium
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kaschper69
N 51° 13.155 E 004° 24.097
31U E 597884 N 5675140
Statue from Paul Peter Rubens at the Groenplaats in Antwerp.
Waymark Code: WM11EVY
Location: Antwerpen, Belgium
Date Posted: 10/10/2019
Views: 2
On the Groenplaats in Antwerp is the bronze statue modelled in 1840 by Willem Geefs with the signature "Petro Paulo Rubens Civi Olum Suo S.P.Q.A. Sumtib.Publ.et priv.P. MDCCCXXXX".
Rubens stands on a stone pedestal. He is wearing trousers that only barely protrude to his knees. His big coat hangs loosely over his left shoulder and he looks down at the visitors of the Groenplaat. He has curly hair and a beard.
"Sir Peter Paul Rubens (28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist. He is considered the most influential artist of Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens's highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of classical and Christian history. His unique and immensely popular Baroque style emphasized movement, color, and sensuality, which followed the immediate, dramatic artistic style promoted in the Counter-Reformation. Rubens specialized in making altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects.
In addition to running a large studio in Antwerp that produced paintings popular with nobility and art collectors throughout Europe, Rubens was a classically educated humanist scholar and diplomat who was knighted by both Philip IV of Spain and Charles I of England. Rubens was a prolific artist. The catalogue of his works by Michael Jaffé lists 1,403 pieces, excluding numerous copies made in his workshop.
His commissioned works were mostly "history paintings", which included religious and mythological subjects, and hunt scenes. He painted portraits, especially of friends, and self-portraits, and in later life painted several landscapes. Rubens designed tapestries and prints, as well as his own house. He also oversaw the ephemeral decorations of the royal entry into Antwerp by the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria in 1635.
His drawings are predominantly very forceful and without great detail. He also made great use of oil sketches as preparatory studies. He was one of the last major artists to make consistent use of wooden panels as a support medium, even for very large works, but he used canvas as well, especially when the work needed to be sent a long distance. For altarpieces he sometimes painted on slate to reduce reflection problems."
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