Peter Paul Rubens: the supreme Baroque painter of Northern Europe.
15, The Garden of Love.
Completed in 1632 and housed in Madrid’s Museo del Prado, The Garden of Love was
painted immediately following Rubens’ marriage to Helena Fourment to celebrate their union.
The painting presents a complex allegory of the theme of love,
evoking numerous interpretations from art scholars since its first unveiling. On a surface level,
it depicts a lavish garden party, with Rubens and his sixteen-year-old bride on the left,
accompanied by her sisters and brothers-in-law. However, other commentators have indentified a
Neoplatonic allegory of love, charting a woman’s initiation into the three stages of love,
as portrayed by the three seated women. The stages of love include sensual, earthly and celestial
love, as various aspects of love are presented in the composition. Other critics judge The
Garden of Love as a visual display of the mores of social gallantry and aristocratic courtship.
The theme of love, of course, dominates the canvas, with the iconography of apposite
sculptures placed throughout the scene. On the right a sculpture of the goddess Venus,
sitting on a dolphin, watches the new union, with an almost demonic expression on her face,
while her breasts serve as watering fountains. Standing at the opposite end of the composition,
Venus’ son Cupid, the god of love, urges the newly-wed couple forward.
In the obscured grotto, unexpected splashes of water surprise the embracing couples.
A group statue of the Three Graces adds a sense of culture to an otherwise risqué scene.
16, Venus and Adonis.
The mythical story of Venus and Adonis was popularised by the Roman poet Ovid’s
Metamorphoses, featuring in Book 10 of the epic poem and later made famous by Shakespeare in his
long poem. Ovid’s tale narrates how the goddess of love Venus seduced the beautiful Adonis as
her first mortal lover. They lived as long-time companions, with the goddess hunting alongside
her lover. According to the myth, one day she warns Adonis of the tale of Atalanta
and Hippomenes, wishing to dissuade him from hunting dangerous animals, but he disregards
the warning and is subsequently killed by a boar. Rubens’ 1635 treatment of the story,
now held in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art as a gift from Harry Payne Bingham,
demonstrates the artist’s career-long fascination with the grand Venetian colourist Titian. Rubens
admired his Italian predecessor’s technique of shimmering pigments, comprising small patches
of intense colour and broken brush strokes, suggesting a lifelike mosaic. Titian’s own
interpretation of the Venus and Adonis story represents the scene of the lovers’ emotional
parting, as Venus strives to deter her young lover from the tragic hunt. Rubens originally
made a copy of Titian’s 1554 painting, now lost, though his admiration for the original image is
faithfully preserved in the following plate, which he painted several years after making the copy.
In the composition, Venus glances pleadingly into Adonis’ eyes, as her flowing blond hair
adds to the dramatic tension of the scene. The muscle-clad and darker hued Adonis, dressed in a
garish red tunic, is presented like an impressive Greek sculpture, turning his back to the viewer.
As Adonis looks down, extending his right arm in a gesture of comfort to his lover,
his other arm firmly grips his spear ready for the hunt. Amusingly, Venus’ son,
the little Cupid, seizes his leg in a vain attempt to thwart his departure.
17, Consequences of War.
Completed in 1639 for the grand duke of Tuscany,
this ominous painting vividly presents the artist’s growing sense of unease regarding
the fragile state of peace between Flanders and England. The monumental canvas provides a bold
commentary on a European continent ravaged by the Thirty Years’ War, which Rubens conveys with
numerous symbols, both contemporary and ancient, deploring the current state of the continent.
Rubens produced the painting in response to the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648),
the origins of which are complex and diverse, though it originated from the animosity between
Protestants and Catholics. In addition, struggles for political power in Europe contributed to and
prolonged the war. Nearly all European states were pulled into the disastrous conflict at
some point during the thirty year period. The fighting involved Spain, France, Sweden,
Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, the Ottoman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire.
In particular, the war represented a continuation and extension of Habsburg and Bourbon rivalry
as well as French and Habsburg animosity. The fighting led to the destruction of large areas
of Europe as well as outbreaks of both pestilence and famine, as portrayed in Rubens’ canvas.
Much of the fighting took place in the German states, which suffered significant depopulation
as a result. The Thirty Years’ War finally ended with the treaties of Osnabruck and Munster as well
as the Peace of Westphalia. The main figure of the image, now in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence, is the
god of war, Mars, who has departed the open temple of Janus — which in times of peace was closed,
according to Roman custom — and he grips a shield and blood smeared sword, threatening
the surrounding people. Mars is encouraged by the Fury of War, Alecto, accompanied by two monsters
that symbolise Plague and Famine, while Venus unsuccessfully attempts to restrain her lover.
A woman on the left personifies wretched Europe, while there are also personifications
of Fecundity, Harmony, Maternity and Charity, who all are known to thrive under peace.
A terrified mother grasps her child to her breast, indicating that procreation and charity are
threatened by War, which inevitably destroys everything. An architect lies on his back,
his instruments held uselessly in his hand, suggesting that creative works that
were used to ornament a city are now razed to the ground in this time of conflict.
18, Self-Portrait.
Housed in Vienna’s Kunsthiorisches Museum,
this half-length self-portrait was painted in the final years of Rubens’ life,
presenting him as an aristocratic man, without any identification of his trade,
which Rubens chose never to reveal in any of his previous self-portraits. Instead the artist opts
for the image of a well-to-do nobleman, standing beside a stone column, a traditional motif of
aristocratic portraiture, which he had also used in earlier portraits of members of his family.
Unlike Rembrandt, who in his later years used the self-portrait for detailed introspection,
Rubens uses the genre for worldly presentation to the public. As his ungloved left hand rests on the
hilt of his sword, he holds in his right (gloved) hand, the other glove, while confidently looking
out towards the viewer. One hand is gloved to emphasise the other hand, resting on the jewelled
sword that was presented to the artist by Charles I, when knighting Rubens in 1630. Once again,
Rubens was most likely inspired by his beloved Titian’s portrait of a man holding a glove,
now in the Louvre, which was acquired by Charles I in 1627
and most likely viewed by Rubens in the Royal Collection.
Rubens’ delineation of himself reflects his encroaching old age, as we can
glimpse the sagging flesh under the eyes. In his early sixties, Rubens often suffered long bouts of
gout, particularly troubling his right hand, which thwarted any attempts at holding a paintbrush.
Although there were periods were the gout went into remission, the condition still disrupted
the artist’s previous prolific output. On 30 May 1640, he died from heart failure,
which was a result of the chronic gout. He was interred in Saint Jacob’s church, Antwerp.