Rubens and His Age is the catalog of a major exhibition of Flemish art treasures from the Hermitage in St Petersburg, presented by the Art Gallery of Ontario. In the early 17th century, the arts of Flanders (the southern provinces of the Netherlands, centered in Antwerp and ruled by Catholic Spain) were dominated by the brilliant Peter Paul Rubens. In paintings that combined northern humanistic detail with the flamboyant expression of the south, Rubens introduced the Baroque style from Italy, where he worked for eight years. Many of the 40 Flemish artists represented in the exhibition were his students; all were influenced by him. Besides monumental religious masterpieces, the exhibition includes penetrating portraits by van Dyck and Jordaens and scenes of daily life. Sixty luxurious objets d'art from the Hermitage collections, from golden goblets to ivory sculptures--several commissioned or designed by Rubens--give a wider aesthetic context to the paintings. Rubens had an encyclopedic knowledge of classical art and literature, and many of his subjects are complex allegories. These are explained for us in informative catalog entries that analyze the symbolism and iconography of the paintings. Lively essays by art historian Christine Goettler and curators from the Hermitage discuss the environment that produced Flemish art. Well designed and beautifully printed, presenting material not seen in the West for two centuries, Rubens and His Age is both an attractive art book and an important addition to Baroque studies. --John Stevenson


From Library Journal
This catalog of an Art Gallery of Ontario exhibition of Flemish masterpieces from the State Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg is a useful addition to the literature on Flemish art. Christiane Gottler (art history, Univ. of Washington) provides an overview of 17th-century Flanders, and brief essays by Hermitage curators discuss paintings by Rubens and his followers, paintings by other Flemish masters, drawings, and decorative arts. Each work is illustrated in color (rather dead and overall too orange in most cases), with catalog entries aimed more at the scholar than the general reader. Nevertheless, this book documents a very rich part of the Hermitage Museum collection (much of it gathered by Catherine the Great, with many objects from Rubens's own collection) that merits close study. The drawings and decorative arts that form about a third of the exhibition have not been widely accessible. For advanced art history collections. Jack Perry Brown, Art Inst. of Chicago Lib. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Rubens was the most important and creative Flemish artist of the seventeenth century, attaining wealth, property, rank and international acclaim, not only in the arts but also as an active participant in the world of politics and diplomacy. Painting was just one expression of his genius: he was also a highly respected scholar, connoisseur and collector, and designed prints, books, tapestries, sculpture and some of Antwerp's famed ceremonial architecture. As political and cultural barriers fell, he and his contemporaries, including Anthony van Dyck and Jan Brueghel, travelled throughout Europe when a new demand for Flemish painting arose. As a result, they produced works of art specifically for a wide variety of foreign patrons that included the different European courts, the Church and the most prominent private collectors of the age.

Catherine the Great of Russia sent her advisers throughout Europe in search of prestigious art collections, and they procured nearly everything on the market that caught their eyes. Her acquisitions were considerably more than the expression of her personal tastes: they were a vita component of official Russian policy. Catherine's sensational, nearly annual purchases were intended to demonstrate Russia's wealth and prosperity to the world. The result is that the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg owns one of the world's most comprehensive collections of seventeenth-century paintings and drawings from Antwerp, where Rubens and his circle, including van Dyck, Jan Brueghel, Jacob Jordaens and Frans Snyders, formed a close-knit artistic community, the hub of a network of influence that spanned the Continent.

Presented here are the jewels of the Hermitage's collection of Flemish Baroque paintings and drawings, including Rubens's monumental allegory The Union of Earth and Water, as well as a remarkable selection of objets d'art, some of which were either owned, designed or commissioned by Rubens himself. Lavishly illustrated in full colour throughout, Rubens and his Age represents an unprecedented opportunity to explore one of the world's finest collections of European art.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal