Rubens and the Eloquence of Drawing re-examines the early graphic practice of the preeminent northern Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640) in light of early modern traditions of eloquence, particularly as promoted in the late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Flemish, Neostoic circles of philologist, Justus Lipsius (1547–1606). Focusing on the roles that rhetorical and pedagogical considerations played in the artist’s approach to disegno during and following his formative Roman period (1600–08), this volume highlights Rubens’s high ambitions for the intimate medium of drawing as a primary site for generating meaningful and original ideas for his larger artistic enterprise. As in the Lipsian realm of writing personal letters – the humanist activity then described as a cognate activity to the practice of drawing – a Senecan approach to eclecticism, a commitment to emulation, and an Aristotelian concern for joining form to content all played important roles. Two chapter-long studies of individual drawings serve to demonstrate the relevance of these interdisciplinary rhetorical concerns to Rubens’s early practice of drawing. Focusing on Rubens’s Medea Fleeing with Her Dead Children (Los Angeles, Getty Museum), and Kneeling Man (Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen), these close-looking case studies demonstrate Rubens’s commitments to creating new models of eloquent drawing and to highlighting his own status as an inimitable maker. Demonstrating the force and quality of Rubens’s intellect in the medium then most associated with the closest ideas of the artist, such designs were arguably created as more robust pedagogical and preparatory models that could help strengthen art itself for a new and often troubled age.

A generous selection of Rubens' best drawings, chiefly portraits and religious and mythical scenes, that fully reveal his supreme artistic gifts. Publisher's note.

"For the great Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), drawing was a fundamental activity. In Rubens's large Antwerp studio, drawings were made for the creation of new paintings; collaborators used them to assist the master on these paintings; and they served as instructional material for pupils. The drawings were guarded from the outside world because they were considered a kind of studio secret; the competition could exploit designs for new compositions if they were released prematurely. How precious Rubens considered his drawings is evident from his testament, which stipulated that they should be passed on to any of his sons or sons-in-law who chose to be a painter; only when it was clear, once all his children were grown, that none would become an artist or marry one could the drawings be dispersed." "This volume presents, in full-color reproductions, more than one hundred of the finest and most representative of Rubens's drawings, ranging from delightful renderings of children and elegant portraits of noblemen and women to vigorous animal studies and beautiful landscapes. Essays by Anne-Marie Logan and Michiel C. Plomp provide overviews of Rubens's career as a draftsman and of the eventual dispersal of his drawings among collectors some fifteen years after his death. The authors discuss the various functions of Rubens's drawings as preparatory studies for paintings, sculpture, prints, and book illustrations and as private studies meant largely for the artist's own enjoyment." "The volume also includes a sampling of the artist's early anatomical studies and copies after antique sculpture, made during his years in Italy (1600-1608). In all likelihood it was also in Italy that Rubens began to collect old master drawings. Eventually he amassed a large quantity of other artists' drawings, most of them by sixteenth-century Italian masters, and he retouched, restored, or reworked many of them. These retouched sheets - several of which are reproduced herein - offer additional insight into his creativity. They are also a starting point for a discussion of the fortunes of Rubens's drawings among collectors."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved