Rubens, Peter Paul
Rubens Rubens's contacts with England began more than a decade before his visit in 1629–30. In 1618 he wrote 2 celebrated letters to Sir Dudley Carleton, listing the paintings – both autograph and studio pieces – which he proposed to offer in exchange for Carleton's collection of antiquities. In 1620 he painted the Countess of Arundel and her entourage (Munich) on their passage through Antwerp; and his admiration for Arundel himself is voiced on a number of occasions in the correspondence. By 1621 he had painted a Hunt for Charles as Prince of Wales. In that year he indicated his interest in the decoration of the Banqueting House in Whitehall by Inigo Jones, then under construction (the most original building of its time in London); negotiations may have been taken further when he met Buckingham in Paris in 1625. Soon thereafter he painted the ceiling of the Duke's house in the Strand and an equestrian portrait (only sketches survive: National Gallery and Fort Worth, Texas). Also in 1625 Charles I asked for a Self-Portrait (Royal Collection).
The Thames & Hudson Dictionary of British Art, © 1985 Thames & Hudson Ltd
