Master of Shadows

by Mark Lamster

  “el nuevo Ticiano”: Quoted in Vergara, Spanish Patrons, 70.

  Among his alterations: On Rubens and the Adoration, see ibid., 80–93. See also Volk, “Rubens in Madrid and the Decoration of the King’s Summer Apartments.” It is possible that the self-portrait was inserted at the request of Philip, as a means of acquiring an image of the painter.

  The count-duke grimaced: On Olivares and the loss of the silver fleet, see Elliott, Count-Duke, 362–63.

  “The only thing I can tell you”: Rubens to Pierre Dupuy, Oct. 1630, in Rooses, Rubens, 447.

  two sets of formal diplomatic instructions: The instructions themselves are lost, but Rubens reviewed them in his letter to Olivares on July 22, 1629, in LPPR, 317–20.

  CHAPTER VII: THE CONNECTING KNOT

  “We ought to consider”: Callières, Art of Diplomacy, 68.

  “so magnificent”: Pierre Dupuy to Peiresc, May 18, 1629, in CDR, 5:43.

  enormous annual subsidy: On the redirected aid to the Huguenots, see Rooses, Rubens, 486–87.

  “His orders are not to hazard”: Ross to William Boswell, May 28, 1629, in Sainsbury, 127. The original reads, “Monsieur Reubines is heir at Dunquerquen and attendis for ane schipe of sum force to bring him from hence to ingland for his order is not to hazard his commission nor his messiwes except that it be in ane schip of ingland, for hie is mychtelie affrayit of the hollanderis.”

  “conducted into this kingdom”: Charles I to John Mince, May 30, 1629, in CDR, 5:51. Rubens was accompanied on the mission to England by his brother-in-law Hendrik Brant, a distinguished legal mind in his own right. Rubens probably brought him along to serve in an advisory capacity, though what service he actually performed, if any, is unknown.

  Diplomatic conduct: On the history of the ambassador, see among others, H. M. A. Keens-Soper and Karl W. Schweizer, introduction to Callières, Art of Diplomacy, 1–52; Mattingly, Renaissance Diplomacy; Nicolson, Diplomacy; Spencer Walpole, Foreign Relations (London: Macmillan, 1882); and Wicquefort, Embassador and His Functions.

  Arnaud d’Ossat: Among his many accomplishments, the cardinal negotiated the marriage of Marie de’ Medici to Henry IV.

  York House: On its history, see London County Council, Survey of London (London: London County Council, 1937), 18:51–60. The party responsible for the design of the York Water Gate is something of a mystery. It has been variously attributed to Gerbier, Inigo Jones, and Nicholas Stone. It was built in 1626, meaning that whoever designed it would have had the opportunity to see the Rubens portico in Antwerp.

  Inigo Jones: On the architect, see Leapman, Inigo.

  “The king is very content”: Quoted in Gachard, Histoire politique et diplomatique, 120.

  the company of artists: Richard Perrinchief, in his 1676 biography of the king, The Royal Martyr, wrote that Charles “delighted to talk with all kinds of artists.” On Charles’s art habit generally, see Brotton, Sale of the Late King’s Goods.

  “I do not know”: Quoted in Brotton, Sale of the Late King’s Goods, 147–48.

  “As God is my witness”: Rubens reported the details of this conversation in his letters to Olivares on June 30, 1629. It appears the artist condensed his account of this first meeting with his audiences with the king at Greenwich on June 25. Rubens to Olivares, three letters dated June 30, 1629, in LPPR, 299–306.

  Wake observed: Wake to Carleton, July 4, 1629, in Sainsbury, 133–35.

  “contrary to their common interests”: Secretary of John Coke (George Lamb) to “Jacques Han,” June 15, 1629, in CDR, 5:60–63.

  “Rubens is a covetous man”: Quoted in Brotton, Sale of the Late King’s Goods, 147–48.

  Lamb sat down: On this report, see the commentary in CDR, 5:66–68.

  “farre short”: Secretary of John Coke (George Lamb) to “Jacques Han,” June 15, 1629, in ibid., 5:61.

  “Rarely, in fact”: Rubens to Olivares, June 30, 1629, in LPPR, 301.

  “Let’s get down to particulars”: Ibid., 302.

  “could be no greater”: Rubens to Olivares, Sept. 21, 1629, in ibid., 343. 211 “too honest a man”: Carleton to Cottington, March 21, 1630, in Sainsbury, 148–49.

  “An ambassador is an honest man”: Wotton wrote the epigram in Latin in a visitors’ guest book while traveling through Austria. See Smith, Life and Letters of Sir Henry Wotton, 1:49. Also useful on the history of diplomacy.

  “assigned dolorous tasks”: Quoted in Warnke, Peter Paul Rubens, 183.

  “Confidence alone is the foundation”: Rubens to Olivares, Aug. 1, 1631, in LPPR, 375.

  “could have broken off”: Rubens to Olivares, June 30, 1629, in Rooses, Rubens, 486.

  “All the leading nobles”: Rubens to Olivares, July 22, 1629, in LPPR, 314.

  “attack the king of Spain”: Ibid., 315–16. 213 “The king simply laughed”: Ibid., 316.

  “A miracle has been wrought”: Rubens to Olivares, Aug. 24, 1629, in ibid., 326.

  “unwilling to express himself”: Rubens to Olivares, July 22, 1629, in ibid., 314.

  “I consider this peace”: Rubens to Olivares, Aug. 24, 1629, in ibid., 329–30.

  “I do not feel”: Rubens to Olivares, July 22, 1629, in ibid., 317–18.

  “approbation and thanks”: Minutes of the Spanish Council of State, Madrid, Aug. 20, 1629, in ibid., 495.

  “to be attributed”: Rubens to Olivares, Sept. 21, 1629, in ibid., 338–39.

  “All the kings and princes”: Ibid., 343–44.

  the groote werck: Alternatively, the groote saecke. On the negotiations and the public reaction to them, see Israel, Dutch Republic, 228.

  “opportunity of conversing”: Callières, Art of Diplomacy, 78.

  “a spectacle worthy of the interest”: Rubens to Pierre Dupuy, Aug. 8, 1629, in LPPR, 320–21.

  the many paintings Rubens began: On Rubens’s paintings in London, see especially Donovan, Rubens and England.

  fondness for Saint George: For Charles and his obsession with Saint George, see Pitman, Dragon’s Trail.

  darkened its mood: On the expansion of the Saint George, see Belkin, Rubens, 223.

  Their readability would be further compromised: The paintings were cleaned and restored several times. After one cleaning, the panels were reinstalled in the wrong positions, where they remained for much of the twentieth century before the distinguished scholar Julius Held noticed the error. There is considerable literature on the commission. See especially Donovan, Rubens and England; Julius Held, “Rubens’ Glynde Sketch and the Installation of the Whitehall Ceiling,” in Rubens and His Circle, 126–37; Millar, “Whitehall Ceiling;” Palme, Triumph of Peace; and Strong, Britannia Triumphans.

  “I should be happier”: Rubens to Gevaerts, Nov. 23, 1629, in LPPR, 350.

  “I curse the hour”: Rubens to Isabella, Nov. 24, 1629, in ibid., 352.

  “We grant him this title”: Patent of nobility, reprinted in Rooses, Rubens, 49I.

  CHAPTER VIII: THE HORRORS OF WAR

  “I am a man of peace”: Rubens to Peiresc, Aug. 16, 1635, in Rooses, Rubens, 615.

  “but one way feasible”: Carleton (Dorchester) to Cottington, March 21, 1630, in Sainsbury,148–49. There was to be one final affront. When Rubens left London, he brought with him a dozen young Catholic theological students headed for Flemish convents and Jesuit colleges. Their travel required royal permission, which they had, for whatever reason, not acquired. At Dover, English port officers kept the party from leaving for two weeks before the matter was resolved. See CDR, 5:282–86.

  “would not blush to see me”: Rubens to Peiresc, Dec. 18, 1634, in LPPR, 393.

  “inclined to lead”: Ibid.

  “Now he owns the living image”: Gevaerts, quoted in Rooses, Rubens, 500.

  “Though I find myself”: Rubens to Van den Wouvere, Jan. 13, 1631, in LPPR, 370–71.

  “One needs proven ministers”: Correspondence regarding Rubens’s potential service in London is quoted in ibid., 358.

  “He has served Your Maje
sty”: Quoted in Vergara, Spanish Patrons, 110–11.

  “labor entirely wasted”: Rubens to Pierre Dupuy, March 27, 1631, in LPPR, 372.

  “keeps the world in turmoil”: Rubens to Olivares, Aug. 1, 1631, in ibid., 374–81.

  “His judgment in affairs”: Jean Puget de la Serre, Histoire curieuse de tout ce qui c’est passé à l’entrée de la reyne mère du roy très chrétien dans les villes des Pays-Bas (Antwerp, 1632; 2nd ed. Amsterdam, 1848), available on the Oxford University faculty Web site.

  “It appears that Spain”: Rubens to Van den Wouvere, Jan. 13, 1631, in LPPR, 371.

  “I know that I get nothing”: Quoted in Elliott, Count-Duke, 404.

  “full power to give”: Gerbier to Charles I, Dec. 19, 1631, in Sainsbury, 165–66.

  A short while later: Gerbier’s letter to Charles I on Dec. 26, 1630 (in ibid., 166–67), describes Rubens’s mission to The Hague in detail.

  Christina von Dietz: Unlike his older brother Maurice, Frederick Henry actually had no blood relationship with von Dietz. He was the son of the fourth wife of William of Orange, Louise de Coligny.

  a considerable territorial sacrifice: On the groote werck negotiations, see Israel, Dutch Republic, 223–49. Precisely what terms Rubens offered Frederick Henry is unknown, but this seems the most likely scenario, given the circumstances.

  “I do not see”: Rubens to Isabella, April 12, 1632, in LPPR, 383–84.

  “I got nothing out of him”: Gerbier to Charles I, Dec. 26, 1630, in Sainsbury, 166–67.

  “I stand upon firm ground”: Rubens to Aarschot, Jan. 29, 1633, in Rooses, Rubens, 518.

  “I might well have omitted”: Aarschot to Rubens, Jan. 29, 1633, in ibid.

  “something great and veritably divine”: On Seneca and Petrarch, see Miller, Peiresc’s Europe, 51–52.

  “I carried out”: Rubens to Peiresc, Dec. 18, 1634, in LPPR, 391–96.

  “with as much courtesy”: Quoted in Rooses, Rubens, 521.

  Gerbier’s charge against Aarschot: On the Gerbier-Aarschot episode, see ibid., 521–23.

  “I have preserved”: Rubens to Peiresc, March 16, 1636, in LPPR, 402.

  “Rid me of these cardinal’s robes”: Quoted in Rooses, Rubens, 556.

  the Battle of Nördlingen: Ferdinand’s troops joined those of the future Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II.

  he presented his ideas: The preparations are described in detail in Rooses, Rubens, 558–70. See also John Rupert Martin’s Decorations for the Pompa Introitus Ferdinandi, pt. 16 of the Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard (New York: Phaidon, 1972).

  “I am so overwhelmed”: Rubens to Peiresc, Dec. 18, 1634, in Rooses, Rubens, 559.

  Alva’s old citadel: The structure, a symbol of oppression, was actually decommissioned and taken apart in the years after Alva’s departure, and subsequently reconstructed as a defensive bastion.

  “To thee we look”: Texts from the Pompa Introitus in Rooses, Rubens, 560–62.

  greatest victory: Quoted in Israel, Dutch Republic, 259.

  “The great festival”: Quoted in Alpers, Making of Rubens, 47.

  Castle Steen: On this estate and its purchase, see Rooses, Rubens, 571–72; and Baudouin, “Rubens House at Antwerp.”

  “indicates that fertility”: Rubens to Justus Sustermans, March 12, 1638, in Warnke, Peter Paul Rubens, 184–85.

  “The advice gleaned”: Quoted in ibid., 183–84.

  “The rhyming geniuses”: Quoted in Rooses, Rubens, 619.

  EPILOGUE

  Those professions: The closest American analogy to Rubens would probably be Paul Revere: a craftsman (silversmith) and wealthy entrepreneur who was drawn into public service.

  Only the portico and garden pavillion remain: The reconstruction is largely based on engravings produced in the late seventeenth century. See Belkin and Healy, House of Art; and Schama, Rembrandt’s Eyes.

  an exemplar of muscular Aryan genius: See Evers, Peter Paul Rubens. It was one of several publications on Rubens that Evers completed during World War II.

  “The position of art”: Burckhardt, Recollections of Rubens, 115.

  “a vogue which is now”: Ibid., 110.

  “Rubenesque”: The editors of Maclean’s actually first used the term “Rubensesque,” but the shorter version soon overtook it.

  “Rubens did for the female”: Kenneth Clark, The Nude (New York: Pantheon, 1956), 148.

  “He dominates”: Delacroix, quoted in Belkin, Rubens, 324. Ruskin and Eakins, quoted in Alpers, Making of Rubens, 10 and 133–35, respectively.

  said to abhor him: See John Richardson, A Life of Picasso: The Triumphant Years (New York: Knopf, 2007), 166.

  SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

  It is an exhilarating task to evoke the life and personality of Rubens.

  These are the first words of Jacob Burckhardt’s Recollections of Rubens, one of the many touchstones of Rubens scholarship, and they are, incontrovertibly, true. For evidence of their veracity, one need only visit Kolvenierstraat, the narrow Antwerp lane just behind the painter’s reconstructed house on the Wapper. There, with a privileged view of the Rubenshuis garden, scholars, students, collectors, and curators can project themselves back into the artist’s day as they avail themselves of an entire library devoted to Rubeniana. Perhaps no artist has attracted so many gifted scholars. Rubens’s engagement with politics, his portrayal of the female body, his collecting, his business practices, his philosophical, literary, and religious ideas—these aspects of Rubens’s life and work have made him an especially fertile subject for historians of every ideological proclivity, and his immense output has left no shortage of material for analysis, discussion, and theorizing. Given the enormity of the literary production devoted to Rubens, it would be impossible for this bibliography to be in any way comprehensive. It is, instead, an overview of the works that treat centrally with his political career, and otherwise have shaped my thinking on the artist and his times. I am in particular debt to the scholars Svetlana Alpers, Frans Baudouin, Kristin Lohse Belkin, Julius Held, Elizabeth Alice Honig, Jonathan Israel, Michael Jaffé, Ruth Saunders Magurn, Jeffrey Muller, Geoffrey Parker, Max Rooses, Charles Ruelens, and Simon Schama.

  Alpers, Svetlana. The Making of Rubens. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1995.

  Ashley, Maurice. Life in Stuart England. New York: Putnam, 1964.

  Baglione, Giovanni, Joachim von Sandrart, and Roger de Piles. Lives of Rubens.

  Introduction by Jeremy Wood. London: Pallas Athene, 2005.

  Bakhuizen van den Brink, Reiner Cornelis. Het huwelijk van Willem van Oranje met Anna van Saxen, historisch-kritisch onderzocht. Amsterdam, 1853.

  Baudouin, Frans. Pietro Pauolo Rubens. Translated by Elsie Callander. New York: Abrams, 1977.

  ______. “The Rubens House at Antwerp and the Château de Steen at Elewijt.” Apollo 105 (1977): 181–88.

  Belkin, Kristin Lohse. Rubens. London: Phaidon, 1998.

  Belkin, Kristin Lohse, and Fiona Healy. A House of Art: Rubens as Collector. Introduction by Jeffrey M. Muller. Antwerp: Rubenshuis and Rubenianum, 2004.

  Bellori, Giovanni Pietro. The Lives of the Modern Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. Translated by Alice Sedgwick Wohl. 1672; reprint, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

  Bergin, Joseph. Cardinal Richelieu: Power and the Pursuit of Wealth. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1990.

  Blunt, Anthony. “Rubens and Architecture.” Burlington 121 (1977): 609–21.

  Braudel, Fernand. A History of Civilizations. Translated by Richard Mayne. London: Penguin, 1994.

  Brook, Timothy. Vermeer’s Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World. New York: Bloomsbury, 2007.

  Brotton, Jerry. The Sale of the Late King’s Goods: Charles I and His Art Collection. London: Macmillan, 2006.

  Burckhardt, Jacob. Recollections of Rubens. London: Phaidon, 1950. Callières, François de. The Art of Diplomacy. Edited by H. M. A. Keens-Soper and Karl W. Schweizer. New York: Holmes & Meier,
1983.

  Cammaerts, Emile. Belgium: From the Roman Invasion to the Present Day. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1921.

  ______. Rubens: Painter and Diplomat. London: Faber and Faber, 1932.

  Campbell, Caroline, and Alan Chong. Bellini and the East. London: National Gallery, 2005.

  Carleton, Dudley. Letters from and to Sir Dudley Carleton. 3 vols. The Hague: Pierre Gosse Jr. and Elie Luzac fils, 1759.

  Chambers, David, and Jane Martineau. Splendours of the Gonzaga. London: Victoria & Albert Museum, 1981.

  Christiansen, Keith. Andrea Mantegna: Padua and Mantua. New York: Braziller, 1994.

  Conant, Jennet. The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime

  Washington. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008.

  Coope, Rosalys. Salomon de Brosse and the Development of the Classical Style in French Architecture from 1565 to 1630. University Park: Pennsylvania State University, 1972.

  Cooper, Charles Henry. Annals of Cambridge. Vol. 3. Cambridge, U.K.: Warwick, 1845.

  Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard: An Illustrated Catalogue Raisonné of the Work of Peter Paul Rubens Based on the Material Assembled by the Late Dr. Ludwig Burchard in Twenty-six parts. Edited by the Nationaal Centrum voor de Plastische Kunsten van de XVIde en XVIIde Eeuw. Various publishers, 1968-present.

  Crew, Phyllis Mack. Calvinist Preaching and Iconoclasm in the Netherlands, 1544–1569. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1978.

  Croft-Murray, Edward. “The Landscape Background in Rubens’s St. George and the Dragon.” Burlington 89 (1947): 90.

  Cruzada Villamil, Gregorio. Rubens, diplomático español. Madrid: Medina y Navarra, 1874.

  Donovan, Fiona. Rubens and England. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2004.

  Duke, Alastair. Reformation and Revolt in the Low Countries. London: Hambledon, 1990.

  Dürer, Albrecht. Dürer’s Record of Journeys to Venice and the Low Countries. Edited by Roger Fry. New York: Dover, 1995.

  Elliott, J. H. The Count-Duke of Olivares: The Statesman in an Age of Decline. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1986.