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Oil sketches by Peter Paul Rubens—created at speed and in the heat of invention with a colorful loaded brush—convey all the spontaneity of the great Flemish painter’s creative process. This ravishing book draws from both private and public collections to present in full color 40 of Rubens’s oil sketches. Viewers will find in these informal paintings an enchanting intimacy and gain a new appreciation of Rubens’s capacity for invention and improvisation, and of his special genius for dramatic design and coloristic brilliance. The book investigates the role of the oil sketch in Rubens’s work; the development of the artist’s themes and narratives in his multiple sketches; and the history of the appreciation of his oil sketches. It also explores some of the unique aspects of his techniques and materials. By revealing the oil sketches as the most direct record of Rubens’s creative process, the book presents him as the greatest and most fluent practitioner of this vibrant and vital medium.
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02 This beautifully illustrated book provides a complete overview of the art of the Southern Netherlands from 1585 to 1700. The author examines the development of Flemish and specifically Antwerp painting, the work of Rubens and other leading masters, and the Antwerp tradition of specialization among painters as well as the sculpture and architecture of this period. “A major moment of artistic culture has been magisterially sketched by one of its leading authorities.”—Larry Silver, The Art Book“Consistently rewarding . . . a book that is going to transform how Flemish art is understood.”—Jeremy Wood, Apollo Magazine“As well as examining the output and influence of leading figur...
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"Such are the characteristics of Rubens's compositions of the Life of Christ after the Passion, and these are some of the problems they raise. They count amongst his most popular compositions, as witnessed by the large number of surviving copies after individual works, or after elements within them. They were mostly painted in the decade after Rubens's return to Antwerp from Italy, at a time when his reputation was being firmly established. A wide range of primarily local patrons commissioned them, and certain subjects were painted with striking frequency. But despite the exigencies of patronage and iconography, all bear testimony to the extraordinary originality of Rubens's art, an originality tempered by his keen awareness of the achievements of Italian art and a deep understanding of the Netherlandish tradition. And whatever the role assigned to his assistants in the purely mechanical aspects of the execution of these works, we are rarely left in doubt about the fluency of his painting, the faultless effectiveness of his drawing, and the fertility of his invention."--Introduction, page 28