Peter Paul Rubens valuation
Painter, diplomat and head of the busiest studio in Europe, whose energy defined the Baroque north of the Alps.
Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) was born in Siegen, in Westphalia, grew up in Antwerp and spent eight years in Italy, from 1600 to 1608, mostly in the service of the Duke of Mantua.
What a work by Peter Paul Rubens is worth
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Bio
Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) was born in Siegen, in Westphalia, grew up in Antwerp and spent eight years in Italy, from 1600 to 1608, mostly in the service of the Duke of Mantua. Back in Antwerp he became court painter to the Archdukes Albert and Isabella, built the house and studio that is now the Rubenshuis, and ran a workshop that produced altarpieces, mythologies, hunts, portraits and designs for tapestries and books for courts across Europe. He painted the cycle of the life of Marie de' Medici now in the Louvre, served as a diplomat between Spain and England, and was knighted by Charles I, for whom he painted the ceiling of the Banqueting House in Whitehall, installed in 1636 and still in place.
The workshop is the heart of the question. Rubens designed many pictures that assistants painted and he finished, collaborated with specialists such as Jan Brueghel the Elder and Frans Snyders, and employed the young Anthony van Dyck, so the share of his own hand varies widely and decides the value. His oil sketches, painted quickly on panel to plan larger works, are entirely his and highly prized, as are his drawings. He also supervised prints after his paintings by engravers such as Lucas Vorsterman and Paulus Pontius. The Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, the catalogue raisonné published in volumes since 1968, is the reference, and tree-ring dating of the oak panels helps to date works.
Whitebank Fine Art is an art advisory and gallery, not an auction house, and is not affiliated with any auction house or with the artist, their estate or their representatives. This page describes the range we advise on. Nothing here is investment advice.
