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Rubens's major business was altarpieces, particularly suitable for an artist who enjoyed working on a grand scale. He also added a circular sculpture hall, based on the Pantheon, to the house.

He designed it himself in an Italian style. He built a large studio to accommodate his pupils and assistants (he received far too many commissions to complete them all single-handedly). Rubens could now afford to buy a grand house in a fashionable part of Antwerp. His reputation had preceded him, and in 1609 at the age of 33 he was appointed court painter to the rulers of the Netherlands, the Archduke Albert and his wife Isabella.The following year, he married his own Isabella - Isabella Brandt. Once home, Rubens decided to stay in the city. He left immediately for Antwerp, but by the time he arrived she had died. In 1608 news came that Rubens's mother was dying. For eight years, he travelled and worked in Spain, copying and incorporating the techniques of Renaissance and classical art.

It was a prestigious position for a young man, but Rubens found it stifling and began training as an artist.Īs soon as he had completed his training, he set out for Italy in order to see for himself the great Renaissance and classical works that he knew from copies. His first job, at the age of 13, was as court page to a countess. Peter Paul Rubens was born in Siegen in Germany, but from the age of 10 he lived and went to school in Antwerp. He was clearly a charming and attractive companion, described as having 'a tall stature, a stately bearing, with a regularly shaped face, rosy cheeks, chestnut brown hair, sparkling eyes but with passion restrained, a laughing air, gentle and courteous'. Not only was he an enormously successful painter whose workshop produced a staggering number of works but he also played an important diplomatic role in 17th-century European politics.