Original subtitles

Peter Paul Rubens, the Flemish painter, sought by Popes and Princes, Saints and the

Old Sinner, in order to embellish the walls and ceilings of their palaces and churches

and to polish up the odd ego. He put the voluptuous female form right at the heart

of Western art and he used it as a vehicle to express everything from desire to human destiny.

His images are monumental, vast, theatrical, and sometimes a tad overblown, but he put

the unfint of a rock art and he became one of the most potent weapons in the 17th

century Roman churches armory to re-establish the Roman Catholic faith.

Peter Paul Rubens was born in 1577 in Seagun, North Germany. His family had fled there

to escape religious persecution for their Protestant beliefs. In their homeland, the

Protestants were violently suppressed by their Catholic rulers.

For the first 10 years of his life, Rubens was brought up in educated in Northern Germany,

but after his father died, the family returned to Antwerp, having wisely converted

to Catholicism, Antwerp itself remained under the repressive rule of the Spanish Monarchy.

The Spanish Crown ruled the southern low countries which remained Catholic while the Protestant

Northern provinces broke off to become the Dutch Republic. For the rest of his life, Rubens

was a loyal Catholic, committed to healing the divisions in his native land.

He began his training as an artist when he was 14, under the tuition of Antwerp's most

admired painters, particularly Otto Van Veen, who received a thorough classical and literary

as well as artistic education.

This is one of his earliest signed paintings. Completed in 1598, it shows Adam and Eve, an already

feature so strongly in his later work. But the 21-year-old seems to have had very little

direct experience of female flesh. Eve seems almost to have been carved out of marble.

Adam, though, is more alive. His muscles seem almost to ripple. In the background, an

idyllic garden of Eden winds its way into the distance and shows the beginnings of Rubens

interest in landscape painting.

Although he was made a master of the Antwerp painter's guild, Rubens knew that his education

wasn't complete until he'd visited the cradle of Western art. Italy.

He arrived at his first port of call, Venice, in 1600 at the age of 23. The city's

your artistic tradition struck a chord in the young painter, which reverberated throughout

his life. His talent was spotted by the Duke of Manchua, who employed him for the next

eight years. The Duke had an eye for the ladies, and Rubens was asked to paint portraits

of his mistresses at court, fine tuning his own painters eye for subsequent work.

At the end of 1600 and one, he finally arrived in Rome for cultural capital of Europe.

It was here that he first saw the major classical works of art that had inspired the

Renaissance artists. In particular, Roman sculpture made a huge impact on Rubens, as

his numerous drawings testify. But it wasn't just Rubens' artistic talents that interested

his patron. In press with Rubens' learning, his charm and his familiarity with court life,

the Duke decided to use the painter for diplomatic tasks. In 1600 and 23, the 25-year-old

Rubens was sent to Spain to present gifts to King Philip III.

Honest trip to Spain, Rubens was staggered by the works that he saw in the Spanish Royal

collections, so many astonishing paintings of such quality and quantity wrote. In particular,

he was bold over by work that he saw in the Royal Palace in Madrid, and here in the

Escorial, just outside the city. He mentions works by Raphael, Tintoretto, but above all,

by the Venetian painter Titian, whose luminous use of colour and free use of brushstrokes

were to have a profound effect on the young artist.

Back in Rome, at the age of 29, Rubens received his first important public commission,

to paint an altar piece for the Kieres and Nova, a high-profile church.

It's a dramatic work, a 14-century icon of the Madonna and Child, surrounded by St. Gregory

and other saints. The whole scene is imbued with action and flamboyance, the characteristics

of all Rubens' work. He manages to draw the view into the painting, we're looking through

a Roman arch, which gives depth and gravity to the work, and is reflected in the expressions

on the faces of the saints. But it's the theatricality that strikes the strongest chord,

the dramatic use of light and colour, which formed part of an emerging style known as

the Baroque, and Rubens became its grandest exponent.

His career seemed set to take off in Italy, but in 1600-8, Rubens was called home. His mother

was dying. After his mother's death, Rubens remained

antwork where he had no problem finding work. A 12-year truce between the Dutch and the Spanish

has sheed in a period of peace and prosperity. The city's great and good wanted art for their houses,

and commissions flooded in. Typical of these commissions was this one, done by Rubens in 169,

for a friend of his, the influential Berger Meister, virtually the mayor, of Antwerp called

Nicholas Rokox. But instead of this image, which is the Old Testament story of Samson and

Lyla, being a devotional one to hang in a church, it was commissioned to hang above Rokox's fireplace.

The story of Samson and Lyla is well known. It's about a tribal war between Samson and Nazarite

and the Philistines, who were in awe by and threatened by his supernatural strength. The secret

was that once you cut his hair, he would lose his strength, and all of that is in this story

as depicted by Rubens. There's the barber, gently cutting the hair of Samson, who lies on

Lyla's lap, and clearly, the two have just been having sex. He is fast asleep, she looks

with an extraordinary ambivalence. After all, she's a woman who's for money,

shot Samson, the man she's supposed to love. But it's a painting of really strong contrast.

The tenderness and the milky white of her skin against his muscle back. This red silk

against the animal skin that's Samson wears, and then the soldiers at the door,

they're about to burst through the door, and Samson is about to be undone. But in the end,

what we get in this picture is a sense of Rubens, the artist, who celebrates human flesh and

sensuality in a world where that really shouldn't be so graphically celebrated. But it's

underpinned by the strong moral that sexual temptation ultimately leads to tragedy.

To man for Rubens's work, continue to grow, and 169, he was appointed caught

painter to the regions of the Spanish low countries, Albert and Isabella.

In the same year, at the age of 32, he married. His wife was Isabella Brandt, the daughter of

a lawyer and a humanist. This was the first of many family portraits that Rubens made

over the course of two marriages, which produced nine children. From both letters and paintings,

it seems clear that he was a devoted, frequently absent father and husband.

Soon after his marriage, Rubens began to build himself, an elaborate townhouse that was

almost a palace here in the centre of Antwerp. It took over seven years to build, it was totally

designed by Rubens, and was the talk of the town. In fact, it anticipated much of the development

in architecture in this part of the world over the next 40 years. Rubens began with traditional

flamish architecture on the left-hand side of the courtyard, but he counterbalanced it with dramatic

Italian classicism, and in many ways that's set the tone for the rest of his own career,

a fusion or synthesis of these two styles.

His studio was always buzzing with visiting art dealers, patrons and friends. He worked with

incredible energy, repeatedly getting up at four o'clock in the morning. He dictated letters,

talked to his guests, viewed artworks for his collection, and painted, all at the same time.

He was also immensely popular with pupils who wanted to join the workshop.

In 1611 he wrote, I can tell you truly without exaggeration, that I have to refuse over a thousand,

even some of my own relatives or my wife's, and not without causing great displeasure, among

many of my best friends. His most famous student was Anthony Van Dyke, later caught painter,

to Charles I of England. As was common practice in large studios, Rubens would often

start a project by sketching a madello, a small pan or oil work, to give an idea of what the

finish work would be. Drifting the design on canvas and indicating with chalk the colours he wanted.

His students and apprentices would do the bulk of the work, and Rubens was subsequently finished

the piece by adding his own touches. In 1611, Rubens was commissioned by the gild of the

art busiers or the gunsmiths in Antwerp to design an altar piece for a chapel in the

trancept of the cathedral here in Antwerp, and the result was one of the most spectacular paintings

in the history of sacred art. It's called the descent from the cross, and shows Christ's

limp lifeless body being taken down from the wooden cross into the arms of St. John,

who's wearing the red robe, and there's that extraordinary sense of plummeting, of descent,

of everything emptying out when you look at the work. But your eyes are also taken up the ladder

to the two figures at the top who are straining to hold Christ's body, and this is a muscular

heroic image of Christ, who's blood and who's grainers whose action look makes it seem even

more tragic that the life has emptied out of him. At the bottom of the painting, and in the

foreground, and this is our connection with the work, are the three mares. There's Mary Cleopherz,

who has tears on her cheeks. Then there's the Magdalene, Mary Magdalene, who's holding Christ's feet,

that she's recently washed with her hair. And then in blue, is the Blessed Virgin Mary,

is Christ's mother. And Mary binds the three parts of the painting together, because in both

the accompanying panels, she is there. On the left-hand side, she shows us her pregnant stomach,

Christ is inside, and on the right-hand side, she presents the infant Christ at the temple

to St. Simeon. There's one other, postcript of this painting. It's size is enormous. It hangs over

and when you look up at it, in some ways you're mirroring the act of making communion.

You kneel at communion, the wafer is held above you and you look up to receive the body of Christ,

and that's just what you do here in this picture. Over the next decade, Ruben's produced 22

altar pieces for Antwerp alone and 63 major paintings in churches around the city. His popularity

was now at its peak. No one could rival him in either output or scale, and he was now established

as one of the most powerful promoters of the Catholic Church.

By the 1620s, Ruben's reputation had become truly international, and his services were coveted

by almost all the major courts of Europe. Ruben's grand-discumission came from this woman,

married a Medici, who invited Ruben's to Paris in 1621 to see her new palace and to do two

monumental series of paintings, one for each wing of the building. This giant series, in sheer

acreage, unprecedented in the history of art, took Ruben's the small matter of less than four

years to complete. The first series, which is recreated here at the Louvre, is 24 pictures

starting with the birth of Marida Medici and romping through her life. So we have our education,

and we have here a picture of her sent to the King of France, Henry IV. He falls in love with

the image, at least according to the way Ruben's painted, and then Marissa, and here's the image

of the marriage, all pomp and circumstance. In fact, Ruben's as a young man had come to that wedding,

Henry IV hadn't even been bothered to turn up to it. He didn't love her. It was diplomatic,

but Ruben's was also a diplomat, and he had to paint the work in a way that would please

and flatter Marida Medici. He's being a poet. He's transforming rather than a report Irish photographer.

Now, he does some sketches in Paris to show Marida Medici, but then he goes back to Antwerp,

does moral sketches, starts on the cameras themselves, working with assistants. He does the

faces, the main figures, the hands and so on, but then when the works are finished,

they're brought back to Paris. Ruben's comes to Paris and does the final touches in situ.

This work is the largest in the series, and in many ways it's the pivot of the cycle.

It shows the moment where Marida Medici finally gets power. What's happened is that a husband,

Henry IV has been assassinated, and we see him here on the left hand side of the picture,

depicted by Ruben's as a Roman god, ascending up to heaven. In the right hand side of the painting,

in her widows robes, there's Marida Medici looking extraordinarily distraught,

and yet, Ruben is at a boundary that she'd even been involved in the assassination.

There may have been scurrelous. Ruben shows her with great dignity here, and the courtiers

of the French establishment are pleading with her to assume power to become regent and look after

the kingdom until her son, Louis XIII, is able to take over. And everything in the picture

is extraordinarily well handled. There's a real bravure about the way Ruben's uses his brush,

but control is the ultimate characteristic that you notice, and control is what Marida Medici is seeking.

And in the end, what we're left with is a feeling of wanting to see the next series,

wanting to see the really exciting saga of the life of one of France's favorite kings, Henry IV,

that united the kingdom after religious discontent. But that doesn't happen. Why?

Because Marida Medici falls out with her son yet again in 1631,

she's banished from France for the final time, and she dies in 1642 in Germany.

What we're left with here, though, is a monument, both to her in light and patronage,

to her massive ego, and to Ruben's as genius. As the conflict between the European powers intensified,

Rubens was struck by a personal tragedy. In 1626, the plague hit Antwerp,

and claimed the life of his wife, Isabella Brand.

Consequently, Rubens threw himself deeper into his diplomatic work, trying to negotiate a

truce between England and Spain. Representing the Spanish king, he went to England in 1629.

His mission was to smooth the way for peace. His trip was a political and personal success.

He was well known in England and received a knighthood from King Charles I. In return,

Rubens gave the king this painting. It's an allegory of peace and war,

appropriately enough, and it's a very difficult picture when you first look at it to make sense of,

but Rubens cleverly divides the picture in half by this diagonal. And in fact, the easiest way

of looking at it is that on this side is peace, and on that side is war.

In the center is the figure of peace herself. She's also a feck and motherly type,

who's squirting her milk into the mouth of this little fellow who, in fact,

is plutus for God of wealth. What's happening down here? Well, these are followers of

backers, party goers, people who love to celebrate and live the good life. And that's amplified

by this leopard, this wild animal, tamed and playful with its claws stuck into the vine.

And the message is clear, if you follow peace, life is bountiful, wonderful,

luscious, but there's a threat, and the threat comes from war, and there's Mars,

the classical God of War, with a female fury behind, egging him on, but everything is saved in the

end by the figure here in the center, who, in fact, is not a God, although she looks a bit like

God, but it's the goddess of wisdom, manoeuvre, who pushes Mars away. And so, through all this

visual complexity, what Rubens is saying is rather simple, but politically war is a threat,

and that peace is the most desirable state to be.

Landon also gave Rubens the chance to paint on a grand scale, when he was asked by Charles the

first, to decorate the new banqueting house being designed by Inigo Jones. The scheme was to glorify

the reign of Charles the first father, James the first, who was the first king to sit on both the

Rubens made sketches, and the pictures were completed in his studio in Antwerp. They were finally

placed in situ, in 1636. While working on the banqueting house, Rubens came to a dead end in

his diplomatic career. His patron, the Spanish region, Isabella, was dead, and with her died

his dreams for United Netherlands. He was also left with a humiliating job of chasing money he

showed for those diplomatic missions. In the end, Rubens decided to retire from the political arena.

However, there was something else that tempted Rubens away from diplomatic life.

In 1630, when he was 53, Rubens married for the second time, his wife to be,

called LM4Mong, was 16 years old, 37 years his junior. She bore him two children, and from 1635

to 1640, he worked on this portrait of LM. One of the most extraordinary

vacations of female flesh in the history of Western art. LM looks as if she's been surprised,

but at the same time, she gazes with a real tenderness at the man who's painting her,

and he reciprocates by painting her flesh in a sensual and loving way. There's also, though,

one or two other references in the painting. He's paying a little homage to Titian in this work.

Titian painted a work called Lady in a fur coat that was owned by Charles I that Rubens had

seen in London and made a copy of. Also, the pose that she adopts is mirroring that of a celebrated

Venus, a classical Roman Venus, and so what he's doing is giving an erotic, private image,

classical respectability. At the same time, though, what he's saying is that he sees his wife

as a goddess. She's Venus for him, and although that's sentimental, it makes the image even more powerful.

In 1635, Rubens and LM bought a country house between Brussels and Maline,

the shadow of Stine or Hetzstein. From 1639, this became a retreat where he could begin to focus on

landscape. His painting took on an Arcadian nostalgic tone. In sharp contrast to the dramatic pieces,

he'd done 20 years or so before.

Within a year of retiring, at the age of 63, Rubens died. Rubens could have been buried in any major

city in Europe, but fitting enough, he chose his hometown of Antwerp, and it's here in the

Jacob's church that he is buried with this picture, a late work of the Madonna and child,

surrounded by saints above his tomb. He emerges as one of the great synthesizers in Western art,

the Flamish tradition and the Italian tradition, and he's also one of the most prolific artists,

with over 3,000 works remaining. He also sets a new model for the way an artist will be perceived.

He's caught here, he's scholar, he's diplomat, as well as supreme technical master. And it's

large, ambitious, bold, monumental vision that remains in his art. He's an artist who, in death,

remains larger than life.