From 1630 until his death on the 30th May 1640, Rubens led a peaceful and quiet life, spending time in Antwerp and in his country home near Mechelen (Belgium). His gout gave him problems but did not dramatically interfere with his art. With full classical training, he also took a part in the sciences and theology and carried on a learned and intensive exchange of letters with many scholars. Including his diplomatic correspondence, the number of letters that he wrote at this age is estimated at around six thousand, of which, unfortunately, only a small part are still in existence. When one adds to this the approximately four thousand mostly self-painted pictures that were partly carried out under his supervision by his pupils, then the scope of his life’s work becomes clear, unique in the history of art and also unique in its power, depth and versatility.
At the age of ten, Anthony van Dyck became a pupil of the painter Hendrik van Balen, who was known for embellishing the landscapes and still-lifes of his colleagues with smooth figures and small-scale mythological scenes. Already a free master of the Lukas Guild since 1618 and thus entitled to the independent exercise of his art, Van Dyck furthered his ambition in Rubens’ workshop, which he entered as assistant in order to learn the painter’s trade from the ground up. Rubens recognized his student’s genius and helped him selflessly in the assurance of his own strength, involving him in all his important works.
In 1620 Anthony van Dyck went first to England and then in 1623 to Italy to study portrait painting. His preference was for portraits, as his temperament was more suited to focussing on an individual subject than on large masses. While in Rubens’ workshop he painted religious pictures such as The Entombment of Christ (early seventeenth century) and Christ carrying the Cross, but these pictures only show the brashness of his youth and his desire to exceed Rubens’ style.
Genoa was Van Dyck’s first station in Italy. There he was introduced into the art scene by other Flemish painters, but his charm was his greatest strength and he soon became the preferred painter of the Genoese nobles. Van Dyck was quickly at home in his new surroundings, and in the study of Titian’s work he found the artistic method of expression that best complemented the charming grandeur of the Genoese nobility. Although many of the portraits painted there went to foreign countries, some of them can still be found in the palaces of Genoa. They are witnesses of a time period and memorials to the culture of an age.