Three Artists Peter Paul Rubens, Diego Velazquez And Rembrandt Van Rijn

Peter Paul Rubens

Born in Westphalia in the year 1577, Ruben was a Flemish painter and draughtsman. Before his death in 1640 Ruben had become one of the most versatile 17th century Baroque painter in Northern Europe. He was well educated and worked as an ambassador for the Southern Netherlands leaders as well as a painter in the courts of Europe. His works prominently took features of Italian High Renaissance that he had picked during his stay in Italy. The works however retained his northern realism that significantly portrayed a love for landscape. Ruben was well versed with classical works including art and literature and could transform complex themes into clear flesh and blood images. He was an ardent collector of 16th century Italian art.

As one of Baroque old masters, his fine art works accentuated movement and color to create sensual paintings (Martin, 1977). He illustrated themes related to the Catholic faith and was a proponent of the divinity of kingship. His altarpieces which included landscapes, ceiling paintings, and portraits reflected his counter-reformation philosophy.

Among his works were altarpieces which included The Raising of the Cross done in the year 1610 and The Descent from the Cross which he worked from 1611 to 1614. Though these works were done after his return from Italy, they established Ruben as one of the leading painters in the Flanders. An analysis of The Raising of the Cross, for instance shows a combination of Ruben’s style with Michelangelo’s dynamic figures and especially Tintoretto’s painting titled Crucifixion. Ruben’s The Raising of the Cross is still considered as one of the leading paintings from the Baroque religious style of art. His other famous works included Samson and Delilah, Judgment of Paris, and The Exchange of Princes among others.

Diego Velazquez

In the same way Ruben represented the height of Baroque style of painting in Netherlands, Diego Velazquez was one of the prominent of the golden age of art in Spain. He was born in the city of Seville in 1599 and belonged to a family that was socially of lesser nobility. He studied art with the famous Francisco de Herrera at an early age of twelve. He never had the advantage of being famous in Europe early in his life like Ruben did. For a long time he was unknown beyond his country. Unlike Ruben who painted historical large scale altarpieces that depicted strong emotions, Velazquez painted compositions that can only be described as depictions of calm but mysterious everyday nature. However, he still ascribed to the Baroque standards of color and movement.

Velazquez painted at a time when the Catholic Church was at its height of reinforcing anti-protestant stance by demanding that artists produce realistic art that could easily be appreciated by the masses. It was also a time when art was freeing itself from the limitation of literal and historical subjects by discovering its own creative potential. This was the kind of modernity artists like Velazquez found himself in. his work was so exceptional that the famous Edouard Manet called him the painter of painters.

Two of his prominent works include The Old Woman Frying Eggs and Three Men at Table. The first one is dated 1618 and depicts an elderly cook making eggs on a charcoal fire with a clay vessel. She portrays a serious and meditative quality that combines with the boy next to her with a melon under his arm to give a clear picture of the distinction between youth and age (Brown, 1986). The dark and indistinct background is in contrast to he cluttered scenes common in portrayals of Dutch kitchens. Done in 1617, The Three Men at a Table is one of Velazquez’s earliest works. It characterizes traits of men of different ages who are painted at half length and three quarter lengths. The subjects of the painting show a sense of self-sufficiency and the ordinariness of the average men in the street.

Rembrandt Van Rijn

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669) ranks as one of the most prominent Dutch Baroque artists in the entire history of Western art. His deep understanding of human nature combined with a highly skilled technique in painting, etching, and drawing not only made him the best among his contemporaries but left a lasting influence on the style of many later artists. In the use of the chiaroscuro effects, Rembrandt still remains unequaled.

Rembrandt was born in the city of Leiden. His father who was a miller took him to the school of Latin and later to the Leiden University. He left the University due to lack of interest in Latin and studied art under the tutelage of art masters like Jacob van Swaneneburch and Pieter Lastman. He was so exceptionally regarded that at the age of twenty two he had taken his own pupils including Gerrit Dou.

Most of the works he did in the 1640s depicted a stylistic influence of classicism. A good example is the self portrait done in the year 1640 that was largely based on the style of Italian Renaissance painters like Raphael and Titian. The self portrait shows the way he had assimilated classicism and organized it formally to express inner calm. In The Supper at Emmaus, Rembrandt uses light to convey movement and the meaning of the painting. His most famous paintings were done during his last two decades. His portraits depicted solitary figures or groups with special emphasis on qualities like mood and spirit. In the Renaissance tradition, his paintings exhibited extensive use of colors and bold brushwork. For example in the single portrait of titled Stitching Jan Six, he uses a semiabstract style that uses light playing on Six’s face to depict a calm meditative mood. His other biblical works include Potiphar’s Wife Accusing Joseph and the Return of the Prodigal Son (Clark, 1978).

References

Brown, J. (1986) Velázquez: Painter and Courtier. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Clark, K. (1978). An Introduction to Rembrandt. London: John Murray/Readers Union.

Martin, J. R. (1977). Baroque. New York: HarperCollins