Everything in motion
Peter Paul Rubens
Rubens from his earliest dated painting, a man holding a pair of dividers, to the pictures of his last years. A wolf and fox hunt at full stretch, the river god Achelous feasting his guests, Venus holding Adonis back from the hunt, Henry IV riding in triumph, and Rubens himself in the garden with his young wife and their son. Warm flesh, red cloth and nothing standing still.
As a puzzle
Generous and busy. Muscles, fur, armour and billowing cloth give almost every piece its own direction, and the hunts are crowded to the edges. The slow parts are the dark ground of the early portrait and the soft, unfinished passages of the oil sketches, so a middling count suits most of these.
A good size here: 60–250 pieces.
Also filed under Flemish Baroque
Subjects here: HorsesPortraitsMyths and LegendsAnimalsChildren
6 pictures, pick one to build
