Henri Simon Hymans and Paul George Konody

“ Never did the Flemish school find a second Rubens. None of his four sons became a painter, nor did any of his three daughters marry an artist. According to Rubens's will, his drawings were to belong to that one of his sons who might become a painter, or in the event of one of his daughters marrying a celebrated artist, they were to be her portion. The valuable collection was dispersed only in 1659, and of the pictures sold in 1640 thirty-two became the property of the king of Spain. The Madrid Gallery alone possesses over sixty of his works. ”

“ Another series had been begun, when Ferdinand wrote to Madrid that the painter was no more, and Jordaens would finish the work. Rubens breathed his last on the 3Oth of May 1640.
More fortunate than many artists, Rubens left the world in the midst of his glory. Not the remotest trace of approaching old age, not the slightest failing of mind or skill, can be detected even in his latest works, such as the “ Martyrdom of St Peter ” at Cologne, the “ Martyrdom of St Thomas " at Prague, or the “ judgment of Paris " at Madrid, where his young wife appears for the last time. ”

“ I In no other school do we find these animated hunts of lions, tigers, and even the hippopotamus and the crocodile, which may be reckoned among the finest specimens of art, and here again are life and nature displayed with the utmost power. “His horses are perfect in their kind, ” says Reynolds; his dogs are of the strong Flemish breed, and his landscapes the most charming pictures of Brabantine scenery, in the midst of which lay his seat of Steen. As a portrait painter, although less refined than Van Dyck, he shows that eminent master the way ”

“ In the Madrid Gallery we find a general view of the church in all its splendour. The present church of St Charles in Antwerp is, externally, with some alteration, the building here alluded to.
Rubens delighted in undertakings of the vastest kind. “The large size of a picture,” he writes to W. Trumbull in 1621, “gives us painters more courage to represent our ideas with the utmost freedom and semblance of reality. . . . I confess myself to be, by a natural instinct, better htted to execute works of the largest size.” ”

“ Under his direct guidance Soutman, Vorsterman, Pontius, Witdoeck, the two Bolswerts, Peter de Jode, N. Lauwers, and many others of less note, left an immense number of beautiful plates, reproducing the most celebrated of his paintings. To give an idea of what his influence was capable of accomplishing, pictorially speaking, it might be sufficient to notice the transformation undergone by the Antwerp school of engraving under Rubens; even the modern school of engraving, in more than one respect, is a continuation of the style first practised in Antwerp (see Line Engraving) . ”

“ The religious paintings—“The Invention of the Cross,” “The Crowning with Thorns” and “The Crucifixion”—are to be found in the hospital at Grasse in Provence (Alpes Maritimes) .
At the beginning of 1603, “The Fleming,” as he was termed at Mantua, was sent to Spain with a variety of presents for Philip III. and his minister the duke of Lerma, and thus had opportunity to spend a whole year at Madrid and become acquainted with some of Titian’s masterpieces. Of his own works, known to belong to the same period, in the Madrid Gallery, are “Heraclitus” and “Democritus.” ”

“ The paintings of Rubens are found in all the principal galleries in Europe: Antwerp and Brussels, Madrid, Paris, Lille, Dresden, Berlin, Munich, Vienna, St Petersburg, London, Florence, Milan, Turin exhibit several hundreds of his works. ”

“ Rubens received 2400 iiorins for this picture. In many respects, Italian influence remains conspicuous in the “Descent from the Cross.” Rubens had seen Ricciarelli's fresco at the Trinita de' Monti, and was also acquainted with the grandiose picture of Baroccio in the cathedral of Perugia, and no one conversant with these works can mistake their influence. But in Rubens strength of personality could not be overpowered by reminiscence; and in type, as well as in colouring, the “Descent from the Cross ”may be termed thoroughly Flemish and Rubenesque. ”

“ While openly they declared themselves devoted sons of the church, a list of the followers of the Reformed creed, headed by the name of Anthony Van Stralen, the burgomaster, got into the hands of the duke of Alva. This was a sentence of death for the magistrates, and Johannes Rubens lost no time in quitting Spanish soil, ultimately settling at Cologne (October 1568) with his wife and four children. ”

“ This picture, painted in Antwerp, at the town's expense, in 1609, had scarcely remained three years in the town hall when it Went to Spain as a present to Don Rodrigo Calderon, count of Oliva. The painter has represented himself among the horsemen, bareheaded, and wearing his gold chain. From a letter written in May 1611 we know that more than a hundred young men were desirous to become his pupils, and that many had, “for several years,” been waiting with other masters until he could admit them to his studio. ”

“ The correctness of this appreciation he was very soon called upon to demonstrate most strikingly by a series of twenty-four pictures, illustrating the life of Marie de Médicis, queen-mother of France. The gallery at the Luxembourg Palace, which these paintings once adorned, has long since disappeared, and the complete work is not exhibited in the Louvre. ”