Rubens’s Great Landscapes

Excellent two-day online conference from the Wallace Collection to mark the reuniting of their “Rainbow Landscape” with “Het Steen” from the National Gallery in an exhibition for the first time since they were together in Rubens’s family.

Day one looked at Rubens’s creative process and how detailed technical analysis of the work can illuminate this. There were talks on how Rubens had a habit of expanding works as he worked on them with each iteration of the work being a complete composition. We looked in particular at these two particular landscapes and how they seem to have grown in parallel with each other, each starting a small landscapes but then expanding with new panels in two more phases.

Day two we looked at what inspired Rubens and I learned about the notion of otium, the art of active leisure including painting and contemplating landscapes. We also looked at Rubens use of mythological figures to show fecundity and fruitfulness in landscapes. Most fascinating was an analysis of the provenance of the works through various inventories from that on Rubens’s death to the collections of the Wallace Collection and National Gallery.

I can’t wait to see the exhibition, and yes I have already booked my ticket! I will bring to it a much deeper knowledge and insight into two works I already love. It will be magical to see them together.

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