Rubens and His Legacy Hardcover – December 2, 2014

As Ivor Zetler wrote in his review, "fabulous" is the right word for this exhibition. It is on view at the BOZAR, Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels from September 2014 until January 2015 and then at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in London from January to April 2015. It must have been unusually difficult to curate, because when you look as closely as the curators have done, the legacy of Rubens is so extensive that the decisions about what to include or exclude must have been daunting if not painful. That is no doubt true of any exhibition, but especially so in Rubens's case: his artistic impact was geographically almost boundless, not only because of his own frequent travels, but also because of the proliferation and wide distribution of prints made after his paintings, which projected his reputation and model far beyond his personal activity--especially as prints of his religious scenes were used by evangelical Catholic missionaries to the most far-flung parts of the world. (Witness one of the most unexpected exhibits: a Qing Dynasty porcelain bowl with a representation of Rubens's Crucifixion scene "Coup de Lance" [1620; Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp], brought back to Europe from China in the eighteenth century by the Dutch East India Company: a surprising and amusing geocultural circle for a work of art.) And in historical terms, the catalogue's subtitle, "From Van Dyck to Cézanne," is somewhat of an understatement, since the legacy under examination is brought up in at least one connection even to Picasso. Tracing Rubens's influence, it appears, is almost tantamount to summarizing the history of Western art for the past four hundred years, and it is just as well that the volume does not go generally much beyond the end of the nineteenth century and does not include sculpture, despite the great influence Rubens had on that art also.The catalogue is under the editorship of Nico van Hout of The Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, who provides a general introduction to the six thematic categories that follow, each provided by a senior curator or academic art historian with recognized expertise in the area: Violence (images of war, hunting, and mythological and religious conflict); Power (history scenes, portraits of powerful people, the Médicis suite in the Luxembourg); Lust (erotic mythology, naked goddesses and other nudes, some Biblical motifs like Susanna and the Elders); Compassion (the religious works); Elegance (the society portraits and the stunning clothing); Poetry (landscapes, fêtes champêtres and galantes; pastoral in general). The procedure is the same for each category: a well illustrated general introduction pointing to Rubens's own antecedents followed by focus on a few themes or sub-topics, each beginning with Rubens's work and expanding to encompass aspects of the legacy. As an example, the "Poetry" category (contributed by Tim Barringer, Yale's Mellon Professor of Art History and an authority on landscape painting) begins with Rubens's absorption of the Greek and Roman pastoral tradition in poetry and then traces the impact of Rubens's pastoral painting on two subsequent traditions: the eighteenth-century French landscape style of Watteau, and the nineteenth-century English elaboration of Gainsborough, Constable, and Turner. One theme Prof. Barringer focusses on is the wagon as used in rural labor: the inception is Rubens's paintings "The Carters" (c. 1629) and "Evening Landscape with Timber Wagon" (1630-40). The permutations of that motif are then traced in Gainsborough's "The Harvest Wagon" (1767 and, again, 1784-85), Constable's well-known "The Hay Wain" (c. 1821) and an etching by John Browne, after Joseph Farington, "The Waggoner" (1776), as well as in several other works. Another line derives from Titian's (or Giorgione's) "Concert Champêtre" (c. 1510), is elaborated by Rubens in "Château in a Park" (c. 1632-35) and "The Garden of Love" (c. 1635), and goes on to influence Watteau's "Pilgrimage to the Island of Cythera" (1717) and "The Pleasures of the Ball" (1715-17), etc., and even Manet's "Fishing" (c. 1860-63). The author brings this pastoral line up to include even a piece by Windham Lewis and a 1936-40 canvas by Ivon Hitchens.As one can gather from that example, one of the great features of the catalogue is its beautiful and copious illustration. Apart from the 146 exhibited items, there are fifty-eight companion illustrations; these all vary in size from double-page reproductions to about one-sixth page, and there are eight double-page and four single-page blow-ups as section frontispieces. All are appropriately chosen and printed in excellent color, and there does not seem to be a page in the volume that does not have an illustration or one on its facing page. But the texts are also generally excellent, clearly organized and very clearly written, despite the fact that most of them have been translated (variously from Dutch, German, Italian, and French); one detects the presence of a strong editorial hand. The range of reference in most of the essays is quite broad, including quotations from Rubens's letters, the discourses of Joshua Reynolds and other critical commentaries, letters of other painters (including Van Gogh), etc., and they are meticulously annotated. There is no general exhibition checklist, but each exhibit is identified with the usual curatorial data as well as provenance and a selected references list. There is a selected general bibliography, and the comprehensive index makes the volume very useful for reference and the occasional browsing which it invites. It is very instructive to look at Rubens and later painting in this way; the educational value of this volume is higher than that of most exhibition catalogues, and I for one learned a great deal from it. This is apparently the first exhibition of Rubens's legacy that has been mounted, and we are fortunate that it is so extensive (drawing on over sixty lenders internationally) and that its catalogue has been so well done; it is indeed a fabulous achievement and very highly recommended.

Look I love Rubens work but I also love direct blunt works of literature that comes to conclusive writings where arguments and points are provided. This book really is explaining his popularity as an artist and how everyone who was anyone knew, talked about and wanted to be Rubens. I truly love his work and the subsequent school of art that revolved around the dynamic artist that the Rubens way of life produced. This book makes very little points about how he lived, his subject matter was addressed with great restraint in regardes to details in subjectz and it felt as a reader the author was timid when it came to expressing opinions. They obviously put in a conclusive and extensive amount of work into this book but it doesn't go into the details necessary to truly study P.P.Rubens as a developing artist. As a beautiful work of art tends to be mysterious in nature, this authors overall point was also kinda mysterious leaving me with the point that people's obsession with Rubens was so fascinating that this book needed to be centered over that subject first and for most.

Fell very short of my expectations. Granted it is a book paired with an exhibit, but it is not at the level as hoped or desired from a massive Rubens book. Rubens work is a very small selection and the book is focused on only comparing his work with other artists who made master copy style studies from Rubens work. Several other great artists, but again mainly focuses on their master copy work of Rubens, oil sketches and drawings. Not many actual paintings focused on the aspect of influence. Similar works that you would see from working artists or art students, studies and master copy reproductions of Rubens work. Not nearly enough Ruben paintings in this book.

Extremely well-printed large reproductions. Many details of the art. Be advised that half or more of the artworks here are by artists other than Rubens, as that was the purpose of the exhibition (his legacy), but the choices are superb, from Van Dyke to Watteau to Daumier. The text is a bit too academic as is common with most art tomes like this, but informative if you can wade through the rhetoric. Best art book I've purchased in a decade, and I am VERY picky about quality printing.

This book was a disappointment because I was hoping for a coffee table type art book of works by Peter Paul Rubens and this book was DEFINITELY NOT THAT! No doubt this is a great art book/history book about Peter Paul Rubens influence on other artists and its full of lots of paintings but I would say only a quarter of the paintings in this book are by peter paul rubens. Most of the paintings are by other famous artists with explanations of how peter paul ruben influenced them.Big dissapointment

beautifully illustrated with illuminating text.

He loved it!

Great

A beautiful book full of quality colour reproductions of paintings, drawings and prints from Rubens and his studio. As well as this the book is full of examples from the many artist he has influenced.Insightful and easy to read this book shows the links between Rubens and those who took influence from him down the centuries such as Van Dyck, Delacroix and Renoir to name a few. A must for any one interested in Baroque art and its reaching influence. Or for any one who would like a beautiful collection of Rubens and Rubens inspired art at their finger tips.

Excellent, many thanks.

Lovely book arrived very quickly

Overwhelming!

THIS IS AGOOD BUY AT THE REDUCED AMAZON PRICE BUT THERE ARE FEW OF RUBENS GREATEST WORKS AND THE BULK OF THE CATALOGUE IS DEVOTED TO STUDENTS OF RUBENS SUCH AS DELACROIX JORDAENS VAN DYCK WATTEAU AND CONSTABLE WHO PROFITTED FROM STUDY OF RUBENS. AND ALMOST RIVALLED HIM.THERE ARE A FEW 20TH CENTURY OFFERINGS FROM PICASSO HITCHENS AND KOKOSCHKA WHO OBVIOUSLY LEARNT VERY LITTLE FROM RUBENS.A FEW OF THEIR DAUBS AND SCRAWLS ARE ON DISPLAY BUT ARE NOT DISCUSSED THANKFULLY.THIS BOOK IS A GOOD TASTER FOR RUBENS WHO DESERVES FURTHER STUDY AND I WOULD LIKE TO SEE A LARGE COMPREHENSIVE EXHIBITION OF THE MASTER. IN THE FUTURE