Peter Paul Rubens

Universally celebrated for his rosy and concupiscent nudes, Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) was an artist whose first concern was sensuality in all its forms. This Baroque master devoted himself to a lifelong celebration of the joys and wonders of the physical realm, abandoning strict societal injunctions against emotive and sensual portrayals of nudity. Instead, Rubens celebrated the human body, as he found it to be as lovely and natural as the many natural landscapes he painted as a young man. In a lushly illustrated text, María Varshavskaya and Xenia Yegorova explore the master at work, bringing a unique focus to Rubens’ life and work.