Book Description
In this relevatory biography, Paul Oppenheimer asserts that Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens' impact and view of beauty resonate today, and that his groundbreaking techniques actually foreshadowed 20th century cinema and Einsteinian physics.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The animated, flamboyant, exuberantly sensuous style of Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) defined the Baroque movement and influenced artists such as Eugene Delacroix and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Yet, although he is one of the world's greatest painters, he remains a mystery figure who strolled the courts of Europe as both diplomat and spy. He has been admired and ignored, praised and ridiculed. In presenting a vivid re-creation of Rubens' age -- its wars, art and theater, politics, and eccentricities -- this revelatory biography convincingly challenges the current perceptions of the life and impact of this extraordinary man. Oppenheimer focuses on Rubens' quest for absolute beauty, an intellectual and artistic adventure illustrated by his paintings, drawings, and correspondence (including some family letters that appear here in unexpurgated English versions for the first time). Rubens' monumental canvases featuring battling lions, sensual gardens of love, and "Rubenesque" women are often greeted with wonder and joy, accompanied by a widespread suspicion that they have little to do with modern times. However, Rubens proves that the painter's grasp of beauty is utterly contemporary and details the ways in which his groundbreaking vision actually foreshadowed present-day art and science.

SYNOPSIS

Countering the current unfashionable status of this Flemish Renaissance artist (1577-1640), Oppenheimer (comparative medieval literature, English, and history of science, City U. of New York) provides sociopolitical context in arguing that Rubens' sensual style and "aesthetics of motion" presaged modern sensibilities. The book includes color plates of notable paintings including The Judgement of Paris, and translations of family letters. This is a reprint of a 1999 work published by Duckworth Publishers (London, England). Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

FROM THE CRITICS

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