Rubens

Rubens, Sir Peter Paul (1577-1640), Flemish painter, was born in Westphalia, and was taken to Antwerp when ten years of age. He received an excellent education, and began to study art there, afterwards voyaging in Italy, where he occupied himself in copying the masterpieces of Titian and others. The Duke of Mantua took an interest in him and gave him some commissions, and also sent him on an embassy to Madrid. In 1608 he returned to Antwerp, and was made Court painter to the Archduke Albert, The Princess de Medicis employed him to paint a, series of scenes in the Luxembourg, and there he made the acquaintance of the Duke of Buckingham. He came to England soon after, and was taken into favour by Charles I., to whom he presented his magnificent Peace and War, now in the National Gallery, and whose portrait he also painted. For this he was knighted. He became enormously wealthy, and was twice married. He died at Antwerp, in which city the tercentenary of his birth was kept as a. festival. It possesses The Descent from the Cross, generally considered his best work.