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Peter Paul Rubens (June 28, 1577 – May 30, 1640) was the most
popular and prolific Flemish and European painter of the 17th century.
He was the proponent of an exuberant Baroque style which emphasized
movement, colour, and sensuality.
Rubens was born in Siegen, Westphalia, to a successful Protestant lawyer
who had fled Antwerp to escape religious persecution. In 1589, two
years after his father's death, Rubens and his mother returned to
Antwerp, where he had himself baptized a Catholic. Religion figured
prominently in much of his later work. In Antwerp, his mother
apprenticed Rubens to leading painters of the time like Adam Van Noort
and Otto Venius.
As many of his paintings feature full-figured, voluptuous women, the
word "Rubenesque" (meaning plump or fleshy, yet not "fat," and used
exclusively to describe women) is derived from his last name.
Still, his art was much more diverse than this. He painted numerous
portraits and self-portraits, religious paintings, as well as landscapes
and historical pieces. He designed tapestries and houses.
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