Circle of Pieter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577 - Antwerp... Lot 2

Circle of Pieter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577 - Antwerp 1640) Ecce Homo Oil on copper 30 x 23.5 cm The exceptional painting under examination refers to the close circle of masters who grew up in the atelier of Peter Paul Rubens. The work traces the painting style of Rubens, called "the prince of Baroque", the great master who revolutionized both Flemish and European painting. His early training is due to the masters Otto van Veen (1558-1629) and Jan Brueghel the Elder. Fundamental to his artistic growth is his trip to Italy. He stayed, studied and painted for eight years in the Bel Paese, stopping first in Venice, where he studied Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto. Later, came into contact with Vincenzo I Gonzaga Duke of Mantua, becomes their court painter, a position that retains until the end of his stay in Italy. In Mantua, Rubens has the opportunity to study closely and assiduously the rich ducal collection. Making copies of several famous paintings has a way to practice technically on the examples of the greatest masters. In 1601 he was sent by the duke to Rome, where he was able to further expand his figurative horizons, thanks to the copy of models by Michelangelo and Raphael and the study of antiquity, also looking at the contemporary artistic production of Carracci, Caravaggio and Federico Barocci. He left Italy and settled in Antwerp, where he organized his atelier, applying the methods of organized production, that is employing his collaborators with rational criteria and according to individual specializations. Among the many painters who came out of the workshop of Rubens or strongly influenced by the master, we remember: Cornelis and Paul de Vos, Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert, Jacob Jordaens, Pieter Van Mol, Victor Wolvoet, Joanna Vergouwen, Jan Boeckhorst known as Lange Jan, Lucas Van Uden, Theodor Van Thulden, Peter Van Lint, Willem Van Harp, Vincent Adrianssen, Pieter Van Avont, Jan and Hendrick van Balen, Theodor Boeyemans or Boeijermans, Vincent Malò, Gerard Segher Gaspar de Crayer and Abraham Willemsens. Circle of Pieter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577 - Antwerp 1640) Ecce Homo Oil on copper 30 x 23,5 cm