Allegories and Subjects from Literature2019

"Rubens had a profound impact on the visual culture of his age. He was admired not only as a painter but also for his learning, for the knowledge of classical literature and imagery which he exploited so brilliantly in arresting and powerful pictures. Rubens was particularly drawn to allegory, to the use of personified figures, sometimes in combination with the gods of the ancient pantheon and certain humans (historical individuals), to express concepts, ideals and even political messages. A contemporary praised him for using in his allegorical compositions 'only symbols of Antiquity, thus popularising the coins and other monuments of the ancient world', but Rubens adapted ancient symbolism to new effect, with the aim of creating pictures whose essential meaning would be the more...