established religion of the State, what now could be expected when
they had _done_ such sacrilegious things?
"Again the whiskered Spaniard all the land with terror smote;
And again the wild alarum sounded from the tocsin's throat."
[Illustration: RUBENS AND HIS FIRST WIFE _Rubens_]
Our imagination cannot picture things so terrible as were perpetrated
upon the inhabitants of Antwerp for their part in the destruction of
the "images." This terrible event is known in history as _The
Spanish Fury_. Thousands of her people were killed, most of her
palaces were burned, and the treasure of her wealthy citizens was
stolen. Property was confiscated to the Spanish Government. Death and
terror, theft and rapine reigned in the beautiful city of the Scheldt.
When the dead were buried, the charred ruins of buildings removed, and
the Spanish soldiery withdrawn, the mist-beclouded Netherland sun
shone out on a dead city which even to-day bears marks of the
Spaniard's fury. Grass grew in what had been its busiest streets,
trade almost ceased, and thousands of weavers and other artisans went
to England where they could pursue their vocations unmolested.
Philip was apparently satisfied with the chastisement he had
inflicted. He began to restore the confiscated property to its
rightful owners, and to encourage the industry he had so cruelly
destroyed. He even made Flanders an independent province under the
Archduke Albert and the Infanta Isabella. Although peace had returned
and a degree of prosperity again prevailed, yet many other things were
irretrievably gone, and the people lived every day in the sight of
painful reminders of their former greatness.
In art, too, these low country provinces had made much progress. There
had been Hubert and Jan Van Eyck who had painted with minute skill
devout pictures. They had, moreover, given to the world the process of
painting in oils. This discovery, worked out with the extreme care
natural to the Netherlanders, changed the whole character of painting,
and made it possible to have such colorists as Titian, Raphael and
Rubens. We must remember that the colors used in fresco painting were
mixed with a sort of "size" and that they had none of the richness of
oil colors. There had been other artists of note besides the Van
Eycks. Hans Memling, with the spirit of a real poet, had painted his
sweet visions, and to-day it is not for the opulent merchants who
added fame and wealth to their city in their time, but for this
poet-painter, Memling, that we venerate the ancient and stately city
of Bruges. Quentin Matsys, the brawny blacksmith, who, for love of an
artist's daughter, became a painter, comes to our minds as a name of
no mean fame in the early records of Flemish painting.
[Illustration: HELEN FOURMONT, RUBENS' SECOND WIFE, AND YOUNGEST SON
_Rubens_]
The guild system, where every class of artisans was organized for
protection and for the production of good work, touched even the fine
arts. No man could set up for a good painter who had not served his
apprenticeship, and whose work was not satisfactory to experts. When
Rubens was born he came as the heir of all that had been accomplished
before him. He only carried on what his predecessors had begun, but
he carried it on in a matchless way so that he was able to leave to
succeeding painters not only all he had inherited, but a goodly legacy
besides--the legacy of a pure life, a glowing, natural, vigorous art.
It seems to me that right here is a lesson for us. May we not add our
mite, tiny though it be, to the ever-growing volume of truth? I like
this quotation in this connection, and I hope you may see its beauty
too--"The vases of truth are passed on from hand to hand, and the
golden dust must be gathered into them, grain by grain, from the
infinite shore."
Rubens' birth took place in 1577, the year following the Spanish Fury.
When he was only seven, William the Silent, the saviour and protector
of the northern provinces, was assassinated at the instance of Philip
II. When he was eleven, the Spanish _Armada_, the proudest fleet that
ever sailed the seas, sent to invade England and punish Queen
Elizabeth, was scattered by wind and wave and dashed to pieces on
alien rocks. The Reformation was well established in England and
Holland, while France, led by Henry IV., was yet uncertain whether or
not to accept the new doctrines. Such were some of the portentous
events that marked the advent and early years of the greatest of
Flemish painters.
The family of Rubens' father had lived for years in Antwerp, but when
Luther's doctrines were put forward Jan Rubens, the father of our
artist, believed in them. For this reason he was compelled to flee
from the city, and his property was confiscated. He went to the little
village of Siegen, in western Germany, where his illustrious son was
born on June 29th, 1577. His birth was on the day dedicated to the
saints, Peter and Paul, and so his parents gave the child their names.
After the residence of a year in this little town, the family removed
to Cologne, where they lived for ten years, until the death of the
father.
Jan Rubens was a lawyer and a learned man, and he took pains that his
sons should be thoroughly educated. In addition to his heretical views
regarding religion he had grievously offended William the Silent and
so was doubly exiled. His wife remained with him, and by her efforts
kept him from prison, and added cheer to his life of exile. This was
the admirable Marie Pypeling, the mother so revered by Rubens, and so
deserving the respect of all who know of her. A portrait of her by her
son is given in this sketch. To her he owed his handsome face, his
strong physique, his shrewdness and his love of order.
[Illustration: RUBENS' DAUGHTER _Rubens_]
Immediately after the death of her husband, Marie Pypeling and her
family, now consisting of two sons and a daughter, returned to
Antwerp. Her property, which had been confiscated in those wild days
at Antwerp, was restored to her in the general restitution with which
Philip tried to compensate the citizens for their losses in the
Spanish Fury. From this time Rubens was an adherent of the Catholic
Church.
The education of Peter Paul, which was so carefully begun by his
father, was continued by his mother, in a Jesuit College at Antwerp.
He was an apt student and soon attained the elements from which he
became a very learned man. He knew seven languages, was interested and
learned in science and politics. All through his life he devoted some
part of each day, however busy he was with his painting, to general
reading. This, perhaps more than his early studies, accounts for his
elegant scholarship.
His mother was quite determined that this son should be, like his
father, a lawyer. His own tastes, however, and a power to use the
brush early displayed, decided otherwise. It very soon became evident
that he was to be a painter--good or bad--who could tell in those
early days?
In accordance with a custom of the time, he was placed as a page in
the house of a nobleman of Antwerp. To the talented and restless boy
this life was intolerable, and he soon induced his mother to allow
him to enter the studio of Van der Haeght, a resident artist of some
repute and a close follower of Italian Art. He was only thirteen at
this time. Here he learned to draw skillfully and, through the
influence of his teacher, he acquired a love of landscape art which
never left him.
From Van der Haeght and his mild but correct art, Rubens, feeling his
weakness in figure work, went to the studio of the irascible and
forcible painter Van Noort, about whom critics have delighted to tell
stories of brutality. However true these may be, Rubens stayed with
him four years and never ceased to speak in praise of his master's
work. Here he became acquainted with Jordaens, who used often to paint
the animals in Rubens' landscapes.
From Van Noort's studio the restless Rubens went to study with Van
Veen, who afterwards became court-painter. When the Archduke Albert
and Isabella entered Antwerp in 1594, it was Van Veen who decorated
the triumphal arches used on the occasion. We may judge that he did
the work well, for he was shortly selected to serve the new rulers as
court painter. Rubens' experience with Van Veen closed a ten years'
apprenticeship in the studios of Antwerp, and now he determined to go
to Italy, where he could study the masters at first hand.
[Illustration: RUBENS' TWO SONS _Rubens_]
As a sort of parting work and, perhaps, because he wished to impress
more vividly on his mind those dear, strong features of his mother, he
painted that portrait of her which we so much admire both for its
subject and its art. This image of his mother was an effectual charm
to carry with him in his travels--a charm to save him perhaps, from
some of the stumbling places into which a handsome young man away from
home might wander.
In May of 1600, after making all needful preparation, our artist set
out on his journey. It was natural that he should direct his steps
first to Venice. Titian had but recently completed his productive life
of nearly a century. His misty atmosphere, his intense interest in
human life and, above all, his glowing color touched a kindred cord in
Rubens' nature. Then there were Tintoretto and Veronese, almost as
interesting to our painter.
The Duke of Mantua, a most liberal and discerning patron of art, was
in Venice when Rubens reached that city. One of the Duke's suite
happened to be in the house with Rubens. He took notice of the
painter's courtly bearing, his fine physique, and his ability to
paint, and introduced him to the Duke. Never did our painter's
handsome face and fine presence so quickly win a patron. He was at
once attached to the Duke's court and began copying for him the
masterpieces of Italy--the pictures of Titian, Correggio, Veronese,
leading all others. He also studied carefully the work of Julio
Romano, Raphael's famous pupil. He accompanied the Duke to Milan,
where he copied Leonardo's great picture, "_The Last Supper_," besides
doing some original work.
The Duke had observed Rubens' courtly manner and his keen mind. He
decided that the painter was just the person to send in charge of some
presents to the King of Spain, whose favor he was anxious to gain. The
gifts were made up of fine horses, beautiful pictures, rare jewels and
vases. Early in 1603, the painter set out with his cavalcade, and
after a stormy journey of about three months they reached the Court of
Spain. He was cordially received and the gifts were delivered,
although the pictures had been somewhat damaged by the rains which
marked the last days of their trip. He was asked to paint several
portraits of eminent personages of the court and he complied
graciously.
He returned to Italy after somewhat more than a year's absence. For
some time he remained at Mantua to paint an altar-piece for the chapel
where the Duke's mother was buried.
[Illustration: HOLY FAMILY _Rubens_
(Pette Gallery, Florence)]
Later he went to Rome where he studied carefully the works of Michael
Angelo. In turn he visited all the great art cities of Italy except
Naples. He stopped for some time at Florence, Bologna, and Genoa. At
the last place he received so many orders for his work that he could
not attend to them all. Everywhere he went the fame of "the Fleming,"
as he was called in Italy, had gone before him. In many of the cities
he made lengthy sojourns, copying the masterpieces that pleased him,
and painting originals highly prized to-day in the galleries of Italy.
He had been in Italy eight years, when one day from over the Alps came
a courier in hot haste bearing to Rubens the sad news that his mother
lay at home very ill. Not even waiting for permission from his patron,
the Duke, Rubens started north with a heavy heart, for he felt sure
that he should never see his mother again. Although he rode with all
haste, as he neared his home city of Antwerp, he received the sad
tidings he had so much dreaded. Marie Pypeling had died nine days
before he left Italy. As was the custom in his country, he secluded
himself for four months in a convent attached to the church where his
mother was buried.
The profound sorrow for his mother, and the sudden change from the
life he had so recently led made him melancholy. He longed for the
skies, the pictures, and the society of Italy. When he came forth from
his retirement, his countrymen could not bear the thought of their
now illustrous artist returning to Italy. They wanted him among them
to glorify with his splendid brush the now reviving city of the
Scheldt.
The rulers of the city, Albert and Isabella, made him court painter
and gave him a good salary. He accepted the office on condition that
he should not have to live at the court. It was with some regret that
he gave up returning to Italy, but the natural ties that bound him to
Antwerp were stronger. He hoped that he might yet one day visit Italy.
This part of his life-plan, however, he never carried out.
[Illustration: INFANT CHRIST, ST. JOHN AND ANGELS _Rubens_]
He was now thirty-two years old, respected of all men not only for his
power as a painter, but for his sterling worth as a man. He had
studied carefully the best art that the world could show, and he had
absorbed into his own characteristic style what was best for him--his
style of painting was now definitely formed. His fame as a painter was
established from the Mediterranean to the Zuyder Zee. He was
overwhelmed with orders for his pictures, so that he had plenty of
money at his command. He had the confidence of princes, and was
attached to one of the richest courts of Europe. A crowd of anxious
art students awaited the choice privilege of entering his studio when
he should open one. It would seem that there was little left for this
man to desire in earthly things. The two he lacked he speedily
procured, a good wife and a happy home, both destined to live always
on the canvasses of this most fortunate of painters.
In 1610, he married the lovely and beautiful Isabella Brandt, the
daughter of the Secretary of Antwerp. Happy indeed were the fifteen
years of their life together, and often do we find the wife and their
two boys painted by the gifted husband and father. We reproduce a
picture of the two boys.
He bought a house on Meir Square, one of the noted locations in
Antwerp. He re-modelled it at great expense in the style of the
Italians. In changing the house he took care that there should be a
choice place to keep and display his already fine collection of
pictures, statues, cameos, agates and jewels. For this purpose he made
a circular room, lighted from above, covered by a dome somewhat
similar to that of the Pantheon at Rome. This room connected the two
main parts of the house and was, with its precious contents, a
constant joy to Rubens and his friends. The master of this palace, for
such it certainly was, lived a frugal and abstemious life, a most
remarkable thing in an age of great extravagance in eating and
drinking. Here is the record of one of his days in summer: At four
o'clock he arose, and for a short time gave himself up to religious
exercises. After a simple breakfast he began painting. While he
painted he had some one read to him from some classical writer, and if
his work was not too laborious, he received visitors and talked to
them while he painted. He stopped work an hour before dinner and
devoted himself to conversation or to examining some newly acquired
treasure in his collection. At dinner he ate sparingly of the simplest
things and drank little wine. In the afternoon he again began his work
at his easel, which he continued until evening. After an hour or so on
a spirited Andalusian horse, of which he was always passionately fond,
and of which he always had one or more fine specimens in his stables,
he spent the remainder of the evening conversing with friends. A
varied assembly of visitors loitered in this hospitable home. There
were scholars, politicians, old friends--perhaps former fellow-pupils
in Antwerp studios. Occasionally the princess Isabella came among the
others, and Albert himself felt honored to stand as god-father to
Rubens' son. Surely the wicked fairy _did_ forget some of the evil he
was to have mixed with this life!
[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG WOMAN _Rubens_
(Hermitage, St. Petersburg)]
It was in connection with the building of this house that the best
known and perhaps the greatest work of Rubens was painted: "_The
Descent from the Cross_," now in Antwerp Cathedral. It is said that in
excavating for the foundation to some of the new parts of Rubens'
house, the workmen unintentionally trespassed on some adjoining
ground belonging to the gunsmiths' guild. In settlement for this
Rubens was requested to paint a picture of St. Christopher, the
Christ-Bearer, as they called him. Rubens complied with the request
and painted what to us to-day would seem a very strange picture--a
"triptych," that is a middle panel over which two narrow side panels,
hinged to the middle one, could be closed. He interpreted the request
of the guild rather strangely too--he thought it would please them to
represent in the several spaces of the triptych all who had ever
carried Christ in their arms. In the middle panel we have the men
removing the dead Christ from the cross, with the three Marys below,
one of whom, the Magdalen, is, perhaps, the most beautiful woman
Rubens ever painted. The light is wonderful, coming, as it does, from
the great white cloth in which they would wrap our Lord. The form of
the dead Christ in its difficult position is a piece of masterly
drawing. This panel is, of course, the principal part of the
altar-piece. On one side of this was painted the Virgin visiting St.
Anne, and on the other we have the aged St. Simeon presenting the
Christ-Child in the temple. If we close these side panels over the
middle one we find a space as large as the center panel. On this
Rubens painted St. Christopher with the child and accompanied by a
hermit carrying his lantern. Surely it was a good-natured artist and
a glowing and generous soul who painted so much in response to a
request for a St. Christopher!
There were, however, trials for this fortunate man. There were those
who were jealous of his fame and who said unkind things of him. In
answer to their jealousies he only said, "Do well and you will make
others envious; do better and you will master them."
He was called away from the home he loved so well. In 1619, when the
truce, under which Antwerp had regained somewhat of her former
greatness, was about to expire, Rubens was sent to Spain to renew it.
He had hardly returned to Antwerp before Marie de Medicis, the wife of
Henry IV. of France--the Henry of Navarre, of historic fame--sent for
the artist to adorn her palace of the Luxemburg in Paris. He was to
paint twenty-one pictures for this purpose. They were to describe the
life of the queen. We give one of the series. He accomplished this
entire work in glowing allegorical fashion in which mythological and
historical personages are sadly confused at times. If there was
occasionally this confusion, there were also present the artist's
strongest characteristics as a painter--rich color and vigorous human
action.
[Illustration: ELEVATION OF THE CROSS _Rubens_]
While in Paris he became intimately acquainted with the Duke of
Buckingham, the favorite of Charles I. of England. This nobleman
visited Rubens at his home in Antwerp and he was so pleased with the
artist's collection that he offered him ten thousand pounds sterling
for it complete. Rubens hesitated, for in the collection there were
nineteen pictures by Titian, thirteen by Veronese, three by Leonardo,
and three by Raphael, besides many of his own best works. The artist,
however, was always thrifty, and he felt sure he could soon gather
another collection, so he accepted the offer.
In 1626, his lovely wife died. He mourned her deeply, saying "she had
none of the faults of her sex." To beguile his time he accepted
another diplomatic mission to Spain. This time he was to secure a
strong ally for Spain against the powerful Richelieu who then held
France in his hand as it were. Incidentally he painted much while at
Madrid. Among other work he copied the Titians which were likely to be
taken out of the country at the marriage of the Infanta. At this time,
too, he undoubtedly met Velazquez, the able and high-souled court
painter of Philip IV. This was certainly one of the most notable
meetings in the history of artists.
[Illustration: DESCENT FROM THE CROSS _Rubens_]
It was while at the court of Madrid at this time that Jean of
Braganza, afterward King of Portugal, invited the artist to visit him
at his hunting-lodge, and Rubens set out with several of his
followers, as was usual with travellers of note in those days.
Before he reached the lodge Jean, hearing of so many attendants, and
dismayed at the expense of entertaining them, departed suddenly for
Lisbon. He wrote Rubens a courteous letter telling him that _state
business_ detained him and begged him to accept some money to defray
the expenses so far incurred on the journey. Rubens replied in like
courteous manner and returned the money, saying that they had brought
twenty times the amount with which to pay their expenses.
[Illustration: MARIE DE MEDICIS _Rubens_
(Museum, Madrid)]
An interesting story is related of their return. Overtaken by dark
night in the open country they took shelter in a monastery. The next
morning Rubens, with an eye always quick to see rare and interesting
things, scanned the place carefully looking for something which might
interest him. He was about to give up the search as hopeless, when he
discovered in a dark corner a grand picture. It represented in more
than mortal fashion the beautiful things that a dead young man,
painted in the foreground, had renounced. Rubens called the prior to
him and begged to know the name of the artist of so masterly a work.
The prior, an old, bowed man, refused saying, "He died to the world
long ago. I cannot disclose his name." Then the artist said, "It is
Peter Paul Rubens who begs to know." The prior started, for even in
the remoteness of the isolated monastery the fame of that name had
gone, and fell in a dead faint at the artist's feet. The attendants
lifted the prior gently but he had ceased to live. Through the ashy
pallor they saw the features of the young man in the picture yonder.
They instinctively turned to look that they might more carefully
compare the faces, and lo! like some cloud-vision, the picture had
disappeared. Then they knew that the dead monk there had painted the
canvas from the depth of his own experience.
From Madrid, Rubens was sent to England in the interest of Spain. Here
he was most kindly received by Charles I., who made him a knight and
presented him with his own jeweled sword and a diamond ring. He also
gave him a hat-band set with precious stones which was valued at two
thousand pounds sterling. From London he went to Cambridge where the
ancient university conferred on him its highest degree. In London he
painted almost constantly. Among other commissions he was given that
of decorating the dining room in Whitehall palace with nine pictures
representing the life of James I. To make the person or events of this
king's life attractive must have been an immense task even for so
supreme a genius as Rubens.
As he sat painting one day a courtier entered and exclaimed, "Ah, his
Majesty's Ambassador occasionally amuses himself with painting." "On
the contrary," responded Rubens who was always proud of his art, "the
painter occasionally amuses himself by trying to be a courtier."
The influence of Rubens' visit to London must be counted rather as
artistic than political. It really was the beginning of that desire
for collecting pictures and other things of the sort which has ever
since distinguished the English nobility. On the Continent the price
of pictures rose on account of England's demand. For Charles I.,
Rubens bought the entire collection of the Duke of Mantua which he
knew so well.
[Illustration: MADONNA AND CHILD WITH ST. FRANCIS _Rubens_]