Frightening mercy, drunken babies and flabby gods: Provocative antique scenes on the canvases of the great Rubens

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Rubens is a court painter and at the same time a rebel. He chooses the most provocative ancient subjects. He organizes a real art manufactory in his house. A talented entrepreneur, businessman and genius, fascinated by ancient literature. 5 stunning pictures that can change your mind.

The artist and diplomat Peter Paul Rubens has left an immense legacy. Hundreds of works. The Flemish master was interested in various topics. In the paintings, religious subjects embodied in paints from Greek myths, portraits of crowned heads, landscapes, sketches, huge decorative canvases and even architectural projects.

Impression

The first association that arises when the name Rubens is mentioned is lush, white-skinned, lazy beauties. They lie and stand in languid poses, demonstrating their charms without hesitation. Nudity certainly attracted the artist. Rubens liked to carefully write out every fold of the body bursting with health. But his nude is more than just a contemplation of beauty. The artist turns to ancient subjects: bold, sexy, sometimes shocking to the untrained viewer. Rubens' canvases make you think about yourself. The mesmerized public spends hours in the Dresden art gallery.

Vladimir Pozner writes in his book: - such an impression on the journalist was made by the original painting "Drunken Hercules".

Not a hero, but a drunkard

Paul Rubens decides to write Hercules. Glorified hero, son of Zeus, mighty and noble warrior. Humanity will not forget his exploits. Hercules remains a symbol of "goodness with fists." But the artist, do not rush to sing an ode to the hero. Mighty Hercules portrays drunk. Bacchantes and satyrs are leading him, half-naked, flushed by the arms. A heavy load lay on their shoulders. There is a guilty smile on the man's face, he is not well on his feet. His body burns with heat, an empty goblet in his hands. Here Hercules is an earthly, good-natured character. Great heroes also need "human" rest.

Zeus turns

Another painting by Rubens, which is impossible to pass by. "Leda and the Swan" is a mythological non-trivial plot. A naked beauty hugs a snow-white bird. Bodies are bent in a fit of passion. Yes, yes, the picture shows the process of copulation between the Girl and the swan. Rubens was not the first artist interested in this myth. Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Antonio de Correggio, Francois Boucher. Catholic priests in the 17th century pursued these canvases and destroyed them for excessive voluptuousness.

Leda - according to one version, the daughter of the Aetolian king Festius, captivated by the beauty of Zeus. The Supreme God descended to her in the form of a snow-white swan. On the bank of the river, they conceived children. Later, Leda will give birth to an egg, the beautiful Elena will become a daughter. The same culprit of the Trojan War. They say that looking at the painting by Rubens, you can smell the female scent and hear moans of pleasure.

Frightening mercy

"Roman mercy" or "the love of a Roman woman." A young woman breastfeeding an older man is another controversial plot. Such a story will not leave indifferent any spectator. And Rubens is aware of this. He will write two papers on this topic. You can see how the artist's attitude to this topic is changing.

The paintings in both cases depict a beautiful young girl. She came to visit her imprisoned father. She is a mother and her lush breasts are full of milk. The old man was sentenced to death. He languishes in a dungeon. Suffers from hunger and thirst. The daughter's debt forces the Roman woman to feed her father. On the canvas of 1612, a girl looks at a prisoner with sympathy. She bent over him in an outburst of mercy and hugs him like a mother. The painting is imbued with love for a person and depicts a noble and courageous act.

But not everyone sees in the antique plot only the beauty of mercy. For many, this image causes indignation and disgust. Paul Rubens, will feel it and after 18 years will rethink ancient history. The painting "Kimon and Feather" still has the same camera, but on the woman's face - disgust and horror. And her father, not aloof, but greedily fell to her breast. Interestingly, curious guards peep into the cell through small windows. The original "Kimon and Feather" can be seen in the State Museum of Amsterdam, and "The Love of a Roman Woman" is kept in the Hermitage collection.

Drunk babies

Another equally emotional painting by Rubens can be seen in the State Hermitage Museum. This time Rubens bare his character not to show the beauty of the body. On the contrary, a flabby and drunken young man sits on a barrel of wine, a goblet in his hand. A naked woman fills the vessel tirelessly. But the face of the young man depicts longing and disgust for life. This hero is Bacchus. This is how the artist sees the god of wine and fun. The depressing impression is aggravated by two little boys with putti wings. They are drunk too. One catches a drop of spilled wine with his mouth, the other, without shame, urinates right at the feet of Bacchus.

Peter Paul Rubens had a passion for ancient subjects. It is known that he spoke Latin and read Roman classics, as well as translations of ancient Greek writers and philosophers. Perhaps that is why the artist had his own opinion about the ancient heroes.

And in continuation a love story Peter Paul Rubens and Elena Fohrman … You read and understand: here it is - the inspiration of true love.