Rubens in London

The Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens is probably the most important foreign artist to have worked in England. The story of how this came to be, of what he did and whom he met when he was there, and what he painted for King Charles I is the story of this book. Charles and his father, the first Stuart monarchs of Great Britain, led and promoted a great wave of interest in the arts, in particular the visual arts that culminated in Rubens painting nine large canvases to decorate the ceiling of Inigo Jones's Banqueting Hall, the ceremonial centre of the Court in Whitehall, a monument that is still in tact today. It is this cycle, an hitherto unappreciated masterpiece of Baroque state art, that is the focus of this book. How Rubens obtained the commission is a tale of international politics and diplomacy in which the artist himself played a significant role. The author relates these complex political relationships and missions with great insight and clarity, and in doing so also describes the cultural and social setting in which Rubens found himself while in London. The illustrations that accompany the text include not only many of Rubens's own paintings and drawings made when he was in