Peter Paul Rubens

Presentazione presso Università dei Colli (Ponti sul Mincio, Mantova) della mostra allestita nelle sale di Palazzo Te. L’esposizione, curata da Raffaella Morselli con la collaborazione di Cecilia Paolini, illustra il percorso dell’artista fiammingo evidenziando quanto le suggestioni intellettuali rinascimentali elaborate negli anni mantovani e italiani siano continuate, evolvendosi, nella pittura della sua maturità, per sedimentarsi come eredità artistica nei suoi allievi.
Le opere esposte a Palazzo Te mettono in luce il dialogo con i miti e l’interpretazione di Giulio Romano e, non di meno, la sintonia mai interrotta con il Rinascimento e la favola mitologica: è qui che Rubens tramuta il suo mondo in un linguaggio universale capace di parlare a tutte le corti d’Europa. L’immaginifica popolazione di divinità e di testi antichi inventati e citati da Giulio Romano furono la palestra ideale per il colto Rubens. Sotto il tetto di Palazzo Te si consumò la conversione dell’artista da fiammingo ad italiano: Rubens è l’uomo nuovo universale, che oltrepassa i confini religiosi, geografici e politici, per inventare un nuovo linguaggio che è, a tutti gli effetti, internazionale. Una lingua figurativa europea, la prima della Storia dell’arte.

Como primer ministro del rey Felipe III y uno de los personajes más poderosos de la historia de España, el I duque de Lerma consiguió reunir una colección artística de dimensiones colosales. Y en ningún museo del mundo como en el Prado se custodian tantas obras maestras que originalmente fueron propiedad del valido, razón suficiente como para, al amparo de esta institución, reflexionar y aportar novedades sobre diferentes temas: cómo proyectó su imagen oficial a través de retratos; qué gustos y conocimientos artísticos adquirió; cómo algunos de sus protegidos terminaron enriqueciendo sus propias colecciones personales gracias a su influencia; o en qué consistió su caída en desgracia y el posterior proceso de dispersión de su patrimonio mueble. En definitiva, reflexionaremos en torno a cómo ambicionar poderes desmesurados y alcanzar el éxito haciendo uso de las artes durante el trayecto.

In the years following his arrival in Italy, Rubens turned time and again to painting minimally draped male figures engaged in brute acts of physical laboring. Long associated with Rubens’s mature signature style, these ruddy figures play key supporting roles as porters, wrestlers, and blacksmiths in some of his best known commissions. This essay argues that Rubens’s
sustained painterly concerns with figuring male exertion almost certainly resided in his desire to fashion himself as an intellectually and manually working humanist painter of the highest order. Rubens first figured male exertion during his Italian period, drawing on classicizing ideas of labor grounded in Virgilian poetics (Georgics), classical sculpture studied in Rome
(e.g., the Farnese Hercules), and the philosophical privileging of the hard-working, Stoic wise man (vir bonus) in his Lipsian, Neostoic circle. Ultimately, these laboring figures are posited as metaphorical, historiated self-portraits by a humanist par excellence with the highest Neostoic ambitions for his art: material embodiments of an ever-heated intellect and a following, painting hand that worked hard to visually embody its workings.

Don’t count on me here to tell his story in a few lines! In any case, since the romantics, all, and nearly to much has been said and written about the rediscovered Dutch master of light inelegantly thrown into darkness by the barbarians of neo-classicism.

Deffinitive program of the International Conference that will take place at Aranjuez from 25th-27th October 2023

During the fifteenth century, the Dukes of Burgundy maintained numerous ties and staged frequent encounters with representatives of the Hispanic kingdoms across a range of cultural and political contexts. As a result a reciprocal cultural bond evolved between the court cultures of these two geographical areas. This initial phase of contact was enabled by the rise to power of Mary of Burgundy and Maximilian I of Habsburg in the Netherlands: it was stipulated that their heirs should marry those of the kings of Castile and Aragon. As a result, the marriage of Mary and Maximilian led to the emergence of a powerful composite monarchy during the second decade of the sixteenth century, one that comprised a set of distinct administrative and legal systems. It was overlaid with a coherent court ritual, combining aspects derived from both the Netherlands and Iberia, as well as the other territories that made up the Spanish Monarchy. As a result, throughout the sixteenth century the Low Countries became one of the principal cultural centres within this monarchy, and there were frequent cultural exchanges between the Netherlandish court—firstly in Mechelen, and then in Brussels—and the monarchy’s central court.
The aim of this conference is to analyse the cultural relationships between the evolved between Iberian and the Netherlandish courts during the late fifteenth century and on throughout the sixteenth century, in order to develop a deeper understanding of the diverse forms of cultural impact that resulted, and their consequences for interaction between these regions. By taking an interdisciplinary methodological focus, embracing the latest research by historians, art historians and architectural historians, this scholarly event seeks to engage with the recent academic debate and research on the social phenomenon of cultural reciprocity. For this purpose, the conference seeks to analyse issues related to ceremonial, ritual, court structures, diplomacy, the visual arts and social relations, and likewise offer a deeper understanding of the mechanics of court culture, and the deployment of visual culture to promote Habsburg universalism across a range of European territories.

Hasn't everything about "The Descent from the Cross" by P.P. Rubens been said? Even those who do not know that the actual theme of this painting is the carrying of Christ, by analogy with the meaning of the name of the patron saint of the archebusiers' guild, Christopher the Christ-bearer, is astonished at the look of this masterpiece. Not a single visitor to the Antwerp cathedral, of whatever nationality or background, escapes this painting: he or she is touched, is impressed, often finds no words… Why is this? There are the colours, the contrasts, the gruesome realism of the colour of death and the traces of torture,… This shows how well Rubens could paint, but Rubens's real strength lies elsewhere, namely in the composition. This ensures that, although the representation is extremely subdued, it still contains movement.

Hasn't everything about "The Descent from the Cross" by P.P. Rubens been said? Even those who do not know that the actual theme of this painting is the carrying of Christ, by analogy with the meaning of the name of the patron saint of the archebusiers' guild, Christopher the Christ-bearer, is astonished at the look of this masterpiece. Not a single visitor to the Antwerp cathedral, of whatever nationality or background, escapes this painting: he or she is touched, is impressed, often finds no words… Why is this? There are the colours, the contrasts, the gruesome realism of the colour of death and the traces of torture,… This shows how well Rubens could paint, but Rubens's real strength lies elsewhere, namely in the composition. This ensures that, although the representation is extremely subdued, it still contains movement.

Notice accompagnant la présentation du livre de Rubens consacré aux "plans et élévations des plus beaux palais et édifices" de Gênes, édition de 1755. Notice parue dans le catalogue de l'exposition "Trésors de la Bibliothèque artistique" de la ville de Bruxelles, mars 2000.

A HUNTING SCENE BY PAUL DE VOS: ALLEGORY OF ARISTOCRACY, POWER AND FORCE.

We are faced with a magnificent pictorial example of aristocratic Flemish
taste from the 17th century, a masterpiece by Paul de Vos that depicts the
outcome of a hunting scene in which a pack of seven greyhounds corners
two foxes, surprised while killing a rooster. The immediacy of the
scene and the rhythm of the narrative create a composition of tremendous
dramatic intensity with an allegorical character that can be contextualized
in the struggle for Habsburg hegemony in the Netherlands. Nonetheless, it
fulfills the aesthetic standards of the time in Flanders, marked by the
preference for grandeur and the monumentality of large formats.

UNA ESCENA DE CAZA DE PAUL DE VOS: ALEGORÍA DEL USO DEL PODER Y LA FUERZA.

Nos encontramos ante un magnífico ejemplo pictórico del gusto
aristocrático flamenco del siglo XVII, una obra maestra de Paul de Vos que representa el desenlace de una escena de caza en la que una jauría de siete lebreles acorrala a dos zorros sorprendidos matando a un gallo. La inmediatez de la escena y el ritmo del relato conforman una composición de una enorme carga dramática con un carácter alegórico contextualizable en la lucha por la hegemonía de los Habsburgo en los Países Bajos, sin menoscabo de cumplir de forma excelente con los cánones de la estética del momento en Flandes, marcada por el gusto del aparato y la monumentalidad de los grandes formatos.

Ever since the transcription and publication  in 1864 of the Liggeren, the register of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke, 11th February 1618 has been widely accepted as the date on which Anthony van Dyck enrolled as
a free master and became a painter in his own right. However, an examination of the Liggeren, alongside the manuscript accounts book kept by the printer Jan Moretus II, who was Dean of the Guild in the guild year 1616–17, leads to the conclusion that Van Dyck became a free master four months earlier, on St Luke’s Day, 18th October 1617.

This  essay  examines  early  modern  alba  amicorum  as  collections  of  social  and  intel-lectual networks, personal memories, and other textual and visual materials. In what way are these ‘paper worlds’ related to collections of objects, and to networks of con-nections? How do they interact with other book and manuscript genres, such as the emblem and the costume book? Taking the album of the Dutch collector Bernardus Paludanus  (1550-1633)  as  a  case  study,  an  argument  will  be  made  regarding  the  conceptual  and  material  kinship  of  alba  with  other  forms  of  manuscript  and  print  collections. The intermediality and materiality of friendship books will be shown to be crucial aspects for understanding how this medium functioned within early modern cultures of collecting and the communal production of memory and knowledge.

Dating the wood from historical art objects is a crucial step to ascertain their production time, and support or refute attribution to an artist or a workshop. Dendrochronology is commonly used for this purpose but requires access to the tree-ring pattern in the wood, which can be hindered by preparatory layers, polychromy, wax, or integrated frames. Here we implemented non-invasive dendrochronology based on X-ray computed tomography (CT) to examine a painting on panel attributed to Rubens’ studio and its presumed dating around 1636 CE. The CT images achieved a resolution of 37.3 micron and revealed a double panelling, which was concealed by oak strips covering all four edges. The back (visible) board is made of deciduous oak (Quercus subg. Quercus), the most common type of wood used in 17th-century Netherlandish workshops, and was dated terminus post quem after 1557 CE. However, the front (original) board used for the painting has been identified through examination of the wood ana...

This painting of the young artist on a biblical theme is usually analyzed by traditional art theory emphasing the Chiaroscuro. Recently arose  the possibility of the astralmythological analysis.
This method offers at least as much information about the ideas belonging to the painting as the traditional  methods.

Estudio y catálogo de la exposición de Teodosio Magnoni en el Palacio Quintanar, que reconoce su lugar como figura esencial de la escultura en Italia durante el último medio siglo. La exposición está concebida como proyecto 'site specific' y como retrospectiva de su trabajo, con el fin de construir una serie de ambientes que permitan contemplar su evolución personal, presentada bajo el concepto de “habitar” desarrollado por el artista.

This paper examines the uses of allegory in early modern and contemporary art. I discuss allegory as a poetic and visual means, creating a multiplicity of meanings, and positing the image as a ruin. Referencing previous discussions of allegory by Walter Benjamin (1963, 2010), Peter Burke (1997), Craige Owens (1980), among others, I discuss the reliance of allegory on iconographical precedents and its fragmentary nature. These points are exemplified through paintings from the 17th century, by Peter Paul Rubens and Diego Velazquez, and contemporary artworks by Joseph Beuys and Francis Alÿs.

16° Congresso Internazionale di Studi sul XVIII Secolo: L’Antichità e la costruzione del futuro nel secolo dei Lumi (Roma, Sapienza Università-Università Tor Vergata, 3-7 luglio 2023).
Full programme available at https://www.isecs-roma2023.net/

Se già finora era nutrito il repertorio di dipinti di soggetto giocoso eseguiti da Giovanni Domenico Ferretti (1692-1768), con questo testo si rende nota l’individuazione di una nuova serie di quadri raffigurante i Travestimenti di Arlecchino, genere che ha reso celebre nel mondo il pittore fiorentino, ma che ha visto anche la partecipazione del meno noto Francesco Gambacciani (1701 - morto dopo il 1782), artista spesso all’opera per la famiglia senese dei Sansedoni. Questo gruppo è diviso in varie collezioni private, e in origine probabilmente era composto di un numero maggiore di opere rispetto ai nuclei finora conosciuti. Si compone infatti anche di tele con composizioni tratte dalle incisioni teatrali di Johann Balthasar Probst (1673-1750) su disegno di Johann Jacob Schübler (1689-1741), facenti parte di una serie di dodici scenette di uno spettacolo di Commedia dell’Arte.
Sarebbe plausibile che questi quadri costituissero uno dei gruppi che i documenti senesi testimoniano nel salotto del camino della villa di Basciano, presso Monteriggioni, oppure nel palazzo Gori Pannilini a Sinalunga, entrambi eseguiti su suggestione di Giovanni Sansedoni.

Portraiture evidently suited Jan Lievens (1607-1674) well. His earliest independent work, according to Jan Jacobsz Orlers (1570-1646), was a likeness of his mother that earned him immediate local fame.1 Later, Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687) encouraged the young Lievens in the same direction. Despite his initial misgivings, Lievens produced a striking and memorable likeness of the Stadholder's secretary, even evoking his preoccupied state of mind (fig. 2).2 It was certainly the right specialty for his subsequent move to London (1632), where Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) was kept busy with portrait commissions. Lievens did not break through the market there, however, and proceeded to Antwerp (1634). He evidently sought courtly patronage, such as he later achieved with commissions in The Hague and Berlin.3 Recently, a portrait has resurfaced that strongly suggests that he did achieve at least one high-level commission for a portrait painting during his nine years in the city on the Scheldt.

Статья посвящена атрибуции французской, германской, английской и польской печатной графики: Франсуа Раго (1638–1670), Даниэль Ходовецкий (1726–1801), Уильям Элмс (годы активности 1797–1816), Станислав Подгорский (1882–1964)/ The article is devoted to the attribution of French, German, English and Polish printed graphics: Francois Ragot (1638–1670), Daniel Chodowiecki (1726–1801), William Elmes (active years 1797–1816), Stanislaw Podgorski (1882–1964).

In the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, Netherlandish carved altarpieces enjoyed great popularity both in the Low Countries and internationally. They were transported over land and sea to the Germanic territories (especially the Rhineland and Westphalia), France, the Iberian Peninsula, the Baltic Region, Poland, and Scandinavia. Today, over 350 of these altarpieces are preserved worldwide. Sweden was one of the principal export markets for these artworks from around 1470: in terms of the medieval “borders”, we can say that 39 Netherlandish carved retables, about ten altarpiece fragments, and two poupées de Malines are preserved there. This research aims to shed light on the way these retables were transported – at each stage of the journey – and the roles of all those involved. The talk will focus on the formal preparations to be made before a Netherlandish carved altarpiece could be transported to its foreign destination, the actual transport over land and sea, and the services provided upon arrival.

Once upon a time, political leaders evoked a “classical” style “to visually connect [the] contemporary Republic with the antecedents of democracy in classical antiquity, reminding citizens not only of their rights but also their responsibilities in maintaining and perpetuating its institutions.” This quote aptly summarizes the gist of Richard Thomson’s latest book on French art and visual culture during the first decades of the Third Republic. The words I cite here come not from Thomson, however. Quite the contrary: they appear in President Donald J. Trump’s 2020 “Executive Order on Promoting Beautiful Federal Civic Architecture.” As the source suggests, the evocation of the classical past as a model for the present is now overwhelmingly an affair of the right. And yet, this was not always the case. The strength and indeed the urgency of The Presence of the Past is its demonstration of the mutability of the political significance of past art. As Thomson shows, both left and right in Third Republic France--artists,
arts administrators, art historians, and politicians--sought to legitimize and enrich their art and ideology through dialogue with and emulation of Greco-Roman antiquity, the quattrocento, and even the painting of Peter Paul Rubens.