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Portrait of Sir Peter Paul Rubens. Photo outsorced from

10 Incredible Facts about Peter Paul Rubens

Sir Peter Paul Rubens was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He was considered one of the most influential artists of the Flemish Baroque tradition, known for his allegorical, mythological and religious paintings.

Most of his commissioned works were history paintings and painted portraits, especially friend’s self-portraits and several landscapes. He also used to design tapestries, prints and his own house.

Additionally, he was a prominent art collector with an extensive collection of art and books in Antwerp. He was also an art dealer and is known to have sold vital art objects to the 1st Duke of Buckingham, George Villiers.

Here are 10 incredible facts about Peter Paul Rubens. 

1. Rubens Was Born in Germany but Grew Up in Antwerp

His family fled Antwerp for Cologne in 1568 after increased religious turmoil and prosecution of Protestants during the rule of the Habsburg Netherlands by the Duke of Alba. His father became a legal advisor of Anna of Saxony and settled at her court in Siegen in 1570, fathering her daughter Christine, born in 1571.

Jan Rubens was imprisoned for the affair, and that was when Peter Paul Rubens was born on June 28, 1577, in Siegen. The family returned to Cologne the following year; two years after his father’s death in 1589, Peter Paul Ruben moved with his mother, Maria Pypelincks, to Antwerp and was raised as a catholic.

2. Peter Paul Rubens Entered the Guild of St. Luke in His Early 20s

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Rubens received a Renaissance humanist education in Antwerp, studying Latin and Classical literature. Then he started his artistic apprenticeship with Tobias Verhaeght and studied under two late Mannerist artists, Adam van Noort and Otto van Veen.

During this period, his early painting training involved copying the work of renowned artists. This training enhanced his technique, and he completed his education in 1598 and entered the prestigious Guild of St. Luke as an independent master. The Guild of St. Luke was the main guild for artists in the city.

Check out: 10 Most Famous Dutch Painters of All Time

3. He was an Incredible artist

There is still uncertainty about the exact number of works Rubens produced and one of the most influential artists of the Flemish Baroque tradition. His popular and unique Baroque style emphasized colour, sensuality and movement, which followed the immediate dramatic artistic style.

Rubens ran a large workshop in Antwerp that produced paintings popular with nobility and art collectors throughout Europe. Michael Jaffe’s catalogue lists 1403 works attributed to Rubens, excluding ones made by assistants. he did the 1403 work for approximately 50 years.

4. He Was Influenced Early on by Famous Italian Painters

Workshop of Peter Paul Rubens -The Judgement of Solomon. Photo outsorced from

Rubens travelled as an independent artist to Italy in the year 1600. He stopped first in Venice, where he saw paintings of Veronese, Titian and Tintoretto and settled in Mantua at the court of Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga. 

Subsequently, he travelled to other cities, including Rome and Florence, where he studied classical Greek and Roman art and copied the works of the Italian master. He got to see the work of artists Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.

 During this period in Italy, his inspiration work was highly naturalistic paintings by Caravaggio, and he made a copy of Caravaggio’s Entombment of Christ and recommended his patron, the Duke of Mantua, to buy The Death of the Virgin(Louvre).

5. Rubens Carried Out Diplomatic Missions

In 1603, Rubens travelled to Spain on a diplomatic mission delivering gifts from the Gonzagas to the court of Philip II. While in Paris in 1622, he engaged in clandestine information-gathering activities, which was an essential task for diplomats at the time.

Rubens’s diplomtic  Career was active between 1672 and 1630, and he moved between the courts of Spain and England in an attempt to bring peace between the Spanish Netherlands and the United Provinces. He also travelled to the northern Netherlands as an artist and a diplomat.

In addition to many diplomatic works, he executed several important works for Philip IV and private patrons.

6. Rubens was an Art Collector

Den Haag – Mauritshuis – Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) – ‘Modello’ for the Assumption of the Virgin. Photo by Txllxt TxllxT-

Ruben was well-off, and this allowed him to buy works of art. He owned antique sculptures and paintings from Flemish artists and by the Italian master he admired and learnt his painting technique from during his early years. The artists include Veronese Titian and Tintoretto. Rubens kept all his collected art in a cabinet he designed by himself.

Read more on 30 Most Famous Paintings you have to know about

7. Rubens Painted a Series of Marie de’ Medici Life

In 1621, Marie de’ Medici, the Queen Mother of France, commissioned Rubens to paint two large allegorical cycles celebrating her life and of her husband, Henry IV of France, for the Luxembourg Palace in Paris.

Rubens completed the work within two years; twenty-one paintings depict Marie’s struggles and triumphs in life, and the three remaining are portraits of herself and her parents. There are paintings depicting The Birth of the Princess, Education of the Princess, The Wedding by Proxy of Marie de’ Medici to King Henry IV and more. The paintings now hang in the Louvre in Paris.

8. He Contributed to Catholic Art

The Descent from the Cross. Photo by Pianobits-

Rubens got commissioned to paint altarpieces for the Cathedral of Our Lady Antwerp. The painting includes The Raising of the Cross and The Descent from the Cross, and they reflect the stylistic influence of Venetian painting.

He was also responsible for the conception of a Theatrum Sacrum which was an integration of sculpture, architecture and painting for the church of the Jesuit order in Antwerp. He also contributed significantly to other catholic arts.

9. Rubens Diplomatic Missions Earned Him Prestigious Titles

 Ruben excelled in his diplomatic mission and was welcomed everywhere he went. He was raised to the nobility by the King of Spain, Philip IV, in 1624 and knighted by King Charles I of England in 1630; that’s why he is referred to as Sir Peter Paul Rubens.

Also read: 10 Most Famous Painters of all Time

10. Rubens Was Buried Together with His Entire Family

Rubens died from heart failure due to his chronic gout on May 30, 1640, and was buried at the Saint James Church in Antwerp. The burial chapel for him and his family was built in the church between 1642 and 1650.

The chapel houses the remains of his second wife, his children and various family of his. A painting hangs above the chapel, which Rubens painted, expressing the fundamental tents of the Counter-Reformation through the figures of the Virgin and Saints.