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IN THE NETHERLANDS.
Farnese. In the year 1600 Rubens undertook, according to the then
prevailing custom with artists, who looked upon Italy as the high
school of art, a journey to the South, where he at first devoted himself
to the study of Titian and Giorgione at Venice. The following year
we find him at Mantua, in the service of Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga, in
his time the most pleasure-loying, most enthusiastic connoisseur of
all princes. Rubens was sent in 1603 to Spain, as bearer of costly
gifts, in the shape more particularly of numerous pictures, to the
court of King Philip Il. On his return he took up his abode suc-
cessively in Mantua, Rome, and Genoa, until the year 1608, when
he returned home.
Now, what did Rubens bear away as the fruits of his eight years’
residence in Italy? It is of no great moment that several of his
pictures savour of Italian prototypes; in his celebrated Descent
from the Cross, in Antwerp Cathedral, we see a reflection of Daniele
da Volterra’s picture in SS. Trinita de’ Monti at Rome; in the Bap-
tism of Christ (lost), of which the original drawing is preserved,
he produced single figures from Michael Angelo’s battle-cartoon ; the
Communion of St. Francis recalls a composition of Annibale Car-
acci; while a work of Titian served as model for the battle of the
Amazons. It is of greater importance that Rubens was fortified by
his Italian experiences in his resolution to rely mainly on ideas
engendered by the study of mythological-historical subjects for his
inspiration, and to devote his art to their illustration. By this means
he establishes a bond of union between the art of Italy and that of
the North, without in any wise sacrificing his individuality. Rather
does a comparison with contemporary Italian painters show how far
he surpassed them in virtue of his spontaneous sympathies and the
abounding force of his character.
Rubens, married in 1609 to Isabella Brant, and again, after her
death (1626), to Helena Fourment in 1630, had settled in Antwerp,
where he led an uncommonly active life. As he himself assures us,
while in the service of the Regent Albrecht and his consort Isabella
he had one foot always in the stirrup, making repeated trips to
London, Paris, and Madrid, and devoting as much of his time to
politics as to art. Certainly the varied occupations of his life are not
to be discovered in the astounding number of his works. Over two
thousand pictures, many of them of colossal dimensions, bear his
name. This amazing fertility may be explained by the circumstance
that the numerous pupils who frequented his studio were em-
ployed upon his pictures, and that he himself possessed wonderful
rapidity of execution. It is not an easy matter to render justice to
Rubens in all cases, partly because so many works have been attri-
buted to him with which he had very little to do, partly, also, be-
cause his rendering of form frequently took directions repugnant to
our modern notions. Perhaps only in his manner of treating the
female form can he be charged with flagrant want of taste. The ca- |