The image of a struggling, unappreciated artist doesn’t apply to Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). As a child, he was accepted as a page at a noble house to learn social graces, at 14 he started an apprenticeship with major painters of his time, and by the time he was 21—soon after moving to Italy as a court painter of Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga—he was already a member of the painters’ guild.

By 1609, Rubens was in the prime of his life. Albert VII, Archduke of Austria, and his wife Isabella Clara Eugenia appointed Rubens as a painter to their court; the court was in Brussels, but Rubens was allowed to settle in Antwerp, where he had grown up. From then on, Rubens would be very busy completing one major court or church commission after another, supervising his large, busy workshop, and traveling all over Europe on diplomatic missions. He was admired by royal patrons and fellow painters alike—successful as a courtier and diplomat, accomplished as a businessman, and respected as a giant of art history. As an artist, his art linked the Renaissance to the Baroque, and he excelled at anything he touched (original compositions, huge historic tableaux, important portraits) while also introducing new techniques and ideas.

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