This self-portrait is one of the masterpieces of this period. Rubens in the painting is already a simple, natural, thoughtful and insightful scholar. The color of the portrait is rich, meticulous and nuanced. This obvious change marks his artistic perfection from 1635. He tried to get rid of the custom of court painters and began to pay attention to the inner world of ordinary people. The painter in the portrait is old, his face is covered with wrinkles, but his eyes are bright. Although there are many wrinkles on his eyelids, his artistic brilliance that has not disappeared can still be found in his eyes. This portrait is painted in profile, and the contrast between light and shade is very strong. In order to highlight the face, other details are deeply buried in the shadow.
Battle of Amarjon
What the painter depicts here is a mythical war scene, which is caused by the love between the hero theseus and the queen Hippolyta. The two teams met in a narrow way on the bridge, and the fighting was extremely fierce.
Theseus, the hero, came to Clim, Asia, met Hippolyta, the queen of Amarion, and proposed to her. The hero took her home after marriage. This aroused the dissatisfaction of the Amarqiong tribe and sent troops to attack Greece, which was invincible all the way. At that time, theseus wanted to destroy the minotaur in the maze of Crete until he learned that he had arrived in Athens, and the women of Amarion were about to arrive in Athens. Theseus immediately led the army to meet them. The two sides fought a bloody battle on the bridge over the Don River in Telmo: Amarjon fought desperately to keep his flag, and the Greek army rushed from the left bridge, which was unstoppable. There is a thrilling picture of traveling on the bridge. The colors on the painting are flowing, the lines are flying, and everything is in a tragic killing storm. Through the scene of fierce fighting between the enemy and ourselves, the painter set off the heroic act of winning the military flag. Although Amaron is at a disadvantage, he still shows unshakable will to fight. On the right, there are already runaway wild horses and Amarjon soldiers rolling down, giving people a strong sense of movement. The whole painting is gripping and thrilling. The overall dynamic of the picture is like a whirlwind, rolling tightly to the right side of the bridge. The figures are hierarchical, and all shapes are subject to a continuous movement. The passion of color expression reached the highest point. Some researchers think that Rubens was influenced by Da Vinci's The Battle of Angalli or Titian's The Battle of Kaida, which is inaccurate. Rubens had never seen those two paintings, and even if he could see them at that time, they could only be copies or sketches. To learn from the ideas of our predecessors, at most, it is a battle to win the flag on the bridge. As far as the general idea of Rubens' painting is concerned, he did not imitate the actions of his predecessors. With skillful realistic skills, the painter vividly echoes the lines and colors and is original.
Robbed Liusipas' daughter.
Greek mythical heroes castel and Polokus are the sons of Tindarius and Lida, collectively known as Dioscuri, which means that they were born in the same child. In fact, Prokus is the son of Rita and Zeus. They are brave and invincible, one is good at riding horses and the other is good at fighting. This picture depicts a traditional wedding robbery scene: two strong black men, castel and Polucus, snatched two daughters from their sleep and were about to drag them onto the horse by force. People and horses occupy the whole space of the picture, and the staggered movement of two horses and two pairs of men and women gives people a strong sense of movement. Horseheads, hands, feet and feet spread out to the four corners, which is both violent and full of joy. Whether this custom shows the will of both sides or the hostility of both sides is not important to the painter Rubens. He is concerned about the color contrast between the body and the horse, and he is concerned about the violent scenes like traveling. This dynamic color is the same as another picture of the battle of Amazon. The movement of lines and bare texture create a fanatical color symphony. The almost square composition was originally stable, but the image formed an X-shape, but it also constituted an extremely unstable turmoil. In the left corner of the picture, the painter added a little love god with wings, which gave the whole picture a hint: this is a kind of love violence.
The wedding of Mary Medici and Henry IV (the fifth of 24 paintings in Marie de Medicis's life)
Queen Mary is on the left side of the painting, surrounded by Italian court waiters. The back of her brocade skirt was held by an angelic little girl (the god of marriage), and the color fully showed the texture of the skirt. Behind Mary, a family representative (Rubens himself is young) held high the scepter of the cross to show the nobility of his family. This cross scepter made the audience notice the crown on Mary's head. Henry IV's agent (Henry IV didn't attend the wedding because of his busy state affairs, and was represented by Mary's uncle, which was normal in medieval Europe), dressed up for the wedding, and was putting a wedding ring on Mary. The Archbishop of Florence presided over the wedding of these two important European representatives. The scene was crowded and there were not many people. The wedding of Henry IV and Mary is actually just a combination of political strategies. The result they brought was a peaceful relationship between France and Italy that lasted for centuries. Therefore, the painter did not show too much poetry in this scene, nor did he give it a happy lyrical color. In short, this is just a political transaction in the church. Rubens is not good at expressing generate's feelings. He is a passionate color poet. As Delacroix, a French romantic painter in the19th century, said, "There is no painter more like Homer than Rubens." But in this painting, it is very obvious that the painter only painted colorful historical events with colored pens.
Marie de Medicis arrived in Marseille (the sixth of 24 paintings in Marie de Medicis's life).
In this vertical painting, the painter depicts that Queen Mary's palace boat has just arrived in Marseilles, and she is ready to accept the highest etiquette in France. At this time, a girl wearing a helmet of A Dai stood at the bow and stretched out her arms to the Queen in the solemn costume of ancient Rome, indicating that France was welcoming her. Under the luxurious palace boat, there are many sea fairies trying their best to pull the rope to make this fantastic palace boat close to the port shore.
In order to make the picture full of beauty, the painter not only deliberately depicted the queen in full dress and the French girl on the boat, but also painted some beautiful fairies on the underside of the boat. The charm of the body strengthens the mythical color of the picture, and at the same time, many angels are painted in the sky to welcome the guests. These fairies are called Nieduan Ides. They are more than fifty daughters born to nereus and dorris. These fairies specialize in rescuing ships in distress at sea. In addition, they also symbolize optimism and singing and dancing. These fairies in thin clothes are surrounded by several sea monsters.
opposite angles
In On the Cross, Rubens focuses on conflict and movement and designs a diagonal composition from the upper left corner to the lower right corner. The strong light came from the lower right, and the executed soldiers appeared in the opposite direction to the strong light. The instrument of torture that Jesus was crucified was erected from the bottom right to the top left of the picture. This cross looks heavy. The executioners were very nervous. A soldier on the right is holding the rope tightly, and the executioner on the left is holding the cross, and his muscles seem to burst. But Jesus on the cross showed a firm expression and no painful expression on his face. He raised his eyes and squinted at the sky, highlighting a heroic spiritual strength. Jesus was in contrast with a group of thugs who later executed the death penalty.
Rubens is very good at adding some vivid landscape details to this kind of paintings. On the upper right of the tree, the leaves seem to be shaken by the strong wind, but in contrast, a poodle with a big mouth is painted in the lower left corner. The whole painting is in a whirlwind of passion. These pictures remind us of some photos of Tintoretto. The traditional colors and strokes in this painting set off the Italian style. Therefore, although it reveals the artistic conception of Venice, it has already shown Rubens' personality characteristics. Especially in the modeling structure, he devoted himself to his own modeling style.
Cross the cross
Rubens created the same altar painting "Lower Cross" after the completion of "Upper Cross". Christ was crucified on Mount Golgotha, and relatives, friends and believers came to mourn. Yue Se, a native of Alibaba Marcia, was asked to see Roman priest pilar and was allowed to bury the body of Christ. "Down the Cross" describes this plot. The painter uses the Caravaggio spotlight method with strong contrast between light and shade to arrange the picture, and the characters are arranged diagonally: the body of Christ is at the top of the central bright area, and the old man holds the arm of Christ with a piece of cloth. He is Yue Se's disciple. John is a man wearing a red robe and bearing the blood of Christ, and the corresponding bearded old man is Peter; It was the virgin Mary who threw her hand at Christ, and it was Magdalene who held Christ's feet devoutly and enthusiastically. In this painting, there is no fierce character action, no strong passion, only pious love and deep sadness. The characters in the painting are surrounded by darkness and immersed in infinite sadness, as if the mountains and rivers are also mourning and sobbing for the death of Christ.
St George fought the dragon.
St. George's fight with dragons, the theme of which originated from the Bible, is also one of the themes commonly used in ancient European murals. According to the history of Christianity, St George was a martyr and lived in the 3rd century. Since the 6th century, it is said that he once rescued a girl from the dragon's paw and was praised by later generations. From the 8th century, he was deified as a saint and became the patron saint of England. Rubens showed a mighty cavalry unit as St. George here, which is very different from St. George in Raphael's painting or St. George in Angel's painting of the same name later. The soldiers are going to kill the dragon soon, and their brushwork is sketchy, which gives full play to the painter's ability to depict the characters in the turmoil with warm colors and makes this battle full of passion. St George's horse, in particular, is very spirited.
A child's head
This portrait of a child is the best portrait of his period. It fully shows the artist's exquisite skills and ability to capture the mental outlook of the characters. The child's facial expressions are quite rich, with harmonious colors and bright eyes. Blonde children's hair has a distinct texture and a three-dimensional effect. The big lapels are drawn with big brush strokes, which sets off a childish and charming face.
Three beautiful gods
Three beautiful gods refer to the goddess of chastity, beauty and love. Others say it refers to Venus, Thalia, the goddess of tenderness, and Aglaea, the goddess of joy. In Rubens' works, these goddesses all have strong and plump bodies and beautiful faces. The whole image is full of passion and artistic charm, which embodies the painter's ideal of female beauty.
Baby Christ, John and two angels
This painting should be a religious image such as Jesus and John the Baptist, but there are actually four innocent, healthy and innocent children. Only a pair of children from little wings on the left reminded the audience that these four children are "gods". The little angel is holding a lamb and looks very naughty. The blond child on the right patted his opponent's face with his right hand, as if it were "Christ". The child with his back to the audience put his hand on the head and neck of the lamb and talked enthusiastically with his little friend. Obviously, the painter painted four lively and lovely fat children affectionately, but did not show the relationship between Jesus and John.
Isabella Brandt.
Rubens and Isabella are deeply in love. Isabella is thirty-four years old at this time. Her reserved, quiet and harmonious smile is exactly the wife's character that the painter wants to portray. This portrait is painted very carefully. Isabella holds a jewelry box in her right hand and puts her left hand on the lace button on her right chest. This description of the opponent, from a certain point of view, seems to be better than? The hand in Finch's Mona Lisa is more affectionate.
When this portrait was completed the next year, Isabella Brandt died of illness. For the painter, it was the last familiar face left to him. It can be said that the painter devoted his friendship with his wife 16 years to this painting.
Portrait of Susanna Furman
This portrait is depicted with beautiful and vivid color strokes, and the lines are very smooth. Like his theme paintings, all the characters are painted with strong bones and too sensual, which is the characteristic of Rubens' female image, and perhaps this is the standard of ideal beauty in the eyes of the painter. Here, the painter also depicts the personality characteristics of the image: her eyes reveal an optimistic and happy look, with rigorous composition and strong color contrast; Clothing shows her aristocratic status, but she is not arrogant; From this portrait, the audience can feel the painter's passion for life, which is completely insulated from asceticism.
Helen Furman and her two children
The painter focuses on the faint pity and love between Helen Furman and her children. He used bold and exquisite brushwork to show Helen's quiet posture and plump figure. Loose dresses are painted in plain colors, and beautiful hats are decorated with brown and red feathers. The use of color is simple, which gives full play to the sketch significance of color. We don't ask for details here, but only pay attention to the emotional expression of the whole and the characters. During this period, Rubens paid little attention to social affairs, refused all political activities and devoted himself to depicting the image of his beloved. Through the beautiful female figure (sometimes through the contrast between the dark fur coat on the shoulder and the pink on the body), we seek the beauty of female body. Helen Furman was lost in thought. Two sons, one knelt down and the younger son was held in his arms. The background faded, and the back of the chair was lined with a Red Velvet to enhance the sense of space of the characters. Meticulous observation was later imitated by many painters.