Baroque art in the age of Rubens.

• Author: Wieseman, Marjorie E.

The first major exhibition of Flemish Baroque paintings ever organized in the U.S. will bring together about 125 paintings by Peter Paul Rubens, his collaborators, and colleagues. It will include more than 30 major pieces by Rubens as well as works by about 40 other artists, including Anthony van Dyck, Jacob Jordaens, and Jan Brueghel the Elder. Some 50 museums and private collectors from around the world have lent works to this extraordinary exhibition, including the Louvre, Paris; Hermitage, St. Petersburg; Prado, Madrid; Musees Royaux des Beaus-Arts, Brussels; Gemaldegalerie, Berlin; Alte Pinakothek, Munich; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the National Gallery of Art, Washington.

"|The Age of Rubens' will trace the origins and development of the prevailing styles and themes in Flemish Baroque art, specifically as they relate to the religious and secular concerns of the era," notes the show's organizer, Peter C. Sutton, the Mrs. Russell C. Baker Curator of European Paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Rubens dominated, indeed epitomized the age, but around his shining example orbited many brilliant satellites. This show will characterize Rubens' achievements and the contributions of his chief associates, collaborators and students."

Rubens was born in Siegen, Germany, on June 28, 1577. His father, Jan Rubens, was a lawyer and magistrate, originally from Antwerp, who had fled that city in 1568 together with his wife, Maria Pypelinckx, because of his Calvinist faith. The Rubens family moved from Siegen to Cologne in 1578, where they remained until Jan's death in 1587. Maria returned to Antwerp with Peter Paul and his older brother, Philip. The young Rubens received an excellent education and was particularly well versed in the classics.

On May 9, 1600, Rubens set out for an extended Italian sojourn to further his artistic education. Shortly after his arrival, he was engaged as court painter to Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. Rubens held this post until 1608, although he spent the majority of his time working for patrons in other cities. Rubens was in Rome in 1601-02, where he painted three altarpieces for the church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme. In 1603-04, he was sent by Gonzaga as his envoy to the court of Spain in Valladolid. Rubens spent several months in Genoa in 1606. At the end of that year, he was awarded the commission for the high altarpiece at Santa Maria in Vallicella in...