Peter Paul Rubens

Sir Peter Paul Rubens born June 28, 1577 –May 30, 1640) was a prolific seventeenth-century Flemish Baroque painter, who combined Flemish technique with classical based renaissance themes. Rubens established a studio, where artists would collaborate on artworks. Most notable of his students is Anthony Van Dyke and Frans Snyders. Rubens would draft drawings of elaborate genre and religious scenes, and his students would paint large portions of it. Work can be categorized into those painted by Rubens himself, those which he painted in part (mainly hands and faces), and those he only supervised.
self portrait
Rubens should be considered an illustrator and a fine artist. He worked mostly for clients, such as the nobility and church. Rubens used the production of prints and book title-pages, to extend his fame throughout Europe during this part of his career. Rubens established copyright for his prints. Most significantly in Holland, where his work was widely copied through print. In addition he established copyrights for his work in England, France and Spain.The fall of the damned

Rubens gigantic paintings include dozens of figures contorted in dynamic rhythmic poses.
Rubens was a baroque painter, inspired by the Italian greats such as Michelangelo, Titian and Caravaggio.

Helene Fourment in her wedding Dress
Dressed in a gigantic dress, Helene looks gazingly at the viewer. She sits on the edge of her chair, round faced and soft skinned, at ease. Rubens painted full figured women, fleshy and large. His Women often having seemingly small heads. Critics point out that his women look startlingly similar. This is especially evident in the Rape of the daughters of Leucippus.
From Rubens perspective, painting women allowed him to portray his own feminine ideal:


Rubens men are also astonishingly large to unnatural proportions. His paintings of gods serve as models for idealistically exaggerated beings.
The drunken silenus
Silenus staggers drunk, a hunk of a man, heavy set, overweight but muscular. His back leg strides against the ground, his figure caught in motion. Rubens had a brilliant knack for rhythmic composition. The heads of the figures leave an arc down to the figures composed on the ground.

What makes Rubens paintings so spectacular? Besides the staggeringly incredible painterly technique, Rubens paintings are spectacular because they are intense, vigorous, living compositions that are filled by incredible beings. They portray immaculate dramas, intensely populated and dynamic, the characters in his paintings are not stiff or dull in any sense. They are engaged, in motion, expressing themselves in a way that seems believable but larger than life.