0:00:03 > 0:00:05So what's this?
0:00:05 > 0:00:09"Rubens is the nastiest, most vulgar painter that ever lived.
0:00:09 > 0:00:12"His pictures always put me in mind of chamber pots."
0:00:12 > 0:00:13Ha!
0:00:13 > 0:00:15Thomas Eakins.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20What's this?
0:00:21 > 0:00:25"To my eye, Rubens's colouring is contemptible,
0:00:25 > 0:00:30"his shadows are filthy brown, somewhat the colour of excrement."
0:00:30 > 0:00:32William Blake.
0:00:37 > 0:00:39What's this?
0:00:41 > 0:00:45"He's gifted, but he's used his gifts to make nasty things."
0:00:45 > 0:00:47Picasso.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34The modern world really has it in for Rubens.
0:01:34 > 0:01:38It's as if everything he did jars with our sensibilities
0:01:38 > 0:01:39and goes against our grain.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44His religious pictures
0:01:44 > 0:01:47are completely over the top, aren't they?
0:01:47 > 0:01:50Too violent, too noisy,
0:01:50 > 0:01:52too Catholic.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56His mythologies are even worse.
0:01:56 > 0:02:01All those fleshy pink gods doing silly things
0:02:01 > 0:02:04in ridiculous mythological pantomimes.
0:02:07 > 0:02:09And as for his women...
0:02:09 > 0:02:12Oh, my God, Rubens's women!
0:02:14 > 0:02:17They're just too fat, aren't they?
0:02:17 > 0:02:21Women in art shouldn't carry this much cellulite.
0:02:25 > 0:02:27So that's what people think,
0:02:27 > 0:02:29but it's not what I think.
0:02:29 > 0:02:32I think Rubens was one of the most exciting painters
0:02:32 > 0:02:34the world has seen.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37Just look at all that invention,
0:02:37 > 0:02:40that energy, that drama.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46So, yes, I'm a Rubens man,
0:02:46 > 0:02:50and in this film I'm going to try and make
0:02:50 > 0:02:54all of you Rubens people, too.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04"I was never so disgusted in my life
0:03:04 > 0:03:07"as with Rubens and his eternal wives."
0:03:07 > 0:03:10Lord Byron.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13Eternal wives? Ugh!
0:03:20 > 0:03:26When Lord Byron complains about Rubens's eternal wives,
0:03:26 > 0:03:31he's complaining about all those notoriously large women
0:03:31 > 0:03:33in Rubens's art.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39The modern world simply doesn't tolerate women like this, does it?
0:03:44 > 0:03:45But why not?
0:03:45 > 0:03:48Seriously, why not?
0:03:48 > 0:03:52What's wrong with a few bulges and a bit of cellulite?
0:03:52 > 0:03:55Don't tell me nobody out there's got any.
0:03:55 > 0:03:57Even I've got a bit of cellulite.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05Besides, if you look back at the art of the past,
0:04:05 > 0:04:09the best evidence there is of the human world view,
0:04:09 > 0:04:12if you go right back to the beginning,
0:04:12 > 0:04:17you'll see that Rubens's women are the norm,
0:04:17 > 0:04:18not the exception.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23This is the Willendorf Venus,
0:04:23 > 0:04:26the oldest known masterpiece of sculpture.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32Her task is to ensure human fertility.
0:04:32 > 0:04:37She's a bringer of life, a good luck charm.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41And look how fleshy and Rubensian she is!
0:04:47 > 0:04:51In any case, not all Rubens's women were like that.
0:04:51 > 0:04:56They weren't all fleshy housewives.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00Some of them were women of remarkable power and confidence.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04I mean, see all this?
0:05:05 > 0:05:08Everything in this room,
0:05:08 > 0:05:12this entire Rubensian outpouring,
0:05:12 > 0:05:15all of it is about one woman.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18That woman over there.
0:05:19 > 0:05:23The art-loving Queen of France,
0:05:23 > 0:05:25Marie de Medici.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33There she is being born.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35As a Medici, she was born in Florence,
0:05:35 > 0:05:39and that's why there are all these cherubs down here,
0:05:39 > 0:05:42popping out of the River Arno to welcome her.
0:05:45 > 0:05:50Here she is at school, being educated by the gods.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55Apollo is teaching her music.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58Hermes teaches languages.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04Over here, that's the French King, Henry IV,
0:06:04 > 0:06:07seeing her picture and liking it.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14Henry liked it so much, he married her.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22But don't worry, I'm not going to take you through all of it.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25There's still most of the room to go.
0:06:25 > 0:06:3121 pictures in all, taking up a huge slab of the Louvre.
0:06:32 > 0:06:37But we're here for Rubens, not for Marie de Medici
0:06:37 > 0:06:43and there's a big Rubensian truth I want to tackle in here
0:06:43 > 0:06:46about the impact of his work.
0:06:47 > 0:06:52You know, when you first come in here and you see all this,
0:06:52 > 0:06:56you're tempted to walk a bit faster, aren't you?
0:06:56 > 0:06:59To give most of this a miss.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02Don't worry, we all feel like that.
0:07:02 > 0:07:04I mean, all this...
0:07:05 > 0:07:07..is terrifying, right?
0:07:11 > 0:07:15With Rubens, there's so much to look at, isn't there?
0:07:15 > 0:07:17Too much.
0:07:17 > 0:07:22His art sometimes forms an impenetrable blob of bodies
0:07:22 > 0:07:24that frighten you away.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27Here's a good example.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29Rubens's Fall of the Damned.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33It's just scary, isn't it?
0:07:34 > 0:07:38Have you ever seen so many bodies in one picture?
0:07:40 > 0:07:45But then, when you step closer and start giving it a good look...
0:07:46 > 0:07:48..see what happens.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53The fleshy blobs start to disentangle themselves
0:07:53 > 0:07:55and make sense.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00The details emerge and they're fascinating.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05Look at that, oh.
0:08:05 > 0:08:06And that,
0:08:06 > 0:08:08oooh!
0:08:08 > 0:08:10And that,
0:08:10 > 0:08:12argh!
0:08:14 > 0:08:20The point is, Rubens always gave more than was asked of him.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24He was so inventive and daring,
0:08:24 > 0:08:27had so much fun painting his pictures.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30From a distance that's not always obvious.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34From a distance Rubens can seem frightening.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37But if you get closer to him,
0:08:37 > 0:08:41close enough to see what he's actually up to,
0:08:41 > 0:08:45Rubens is absolutely delightful.
0:08:49 > 0:08:51And, guess what?
0:08:51 > 0:08:55You have an ally in this exciting exploration.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57The camera.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00The camera loves Rubens.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05It gets you close enough to see his details,
0:09:05 > 0:09:08high enough to inspect his corners.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13Since this painting left Rubens's studio,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17no-one's been able to see it as well as this.
0:09:17 > 0:09:23So, yes, stick with me, stick with the camera
0:09:23 > 0:09:28and let's plunge together into all that Rubens out there.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43Before we go an inch further into this film
0:09:43 > 0:09:46we need to have a geography lesson.
0:09:48 > 0:09:53This is a famous map called the Leo Belgicus
0:09:53 > 0:09:56and it was brought out in 1609 by a cartographer
0:09:56 > 0:09:59called Claes Janszoon Visscher,
0:09:59 > 0:10:03and it shows Western Europe as it was in Rubens's time.
0:10:06 > 0:10:10The lion shows the outline of what used to be called
0:10:10 > 0:10:13the Spanish Netherlands.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17Today, it's three different countries.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19Belgium around here,
0:10:19 > 0:10:22Holland up here
0:10:22 > 0:10:25and over here, Luxembourg.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31It's called the Spanish Netherlands because all these lands
0:10:31 > 0:10:33belonged then to the Spanish Kings,
0:10:33 > 0:10:36who'd inherited them from the Burgundians
0:10:36 > 0:10:41and it was divided up into provinces, 17 of them.
0:10:42 > 0:10:48These 17 provinces were split on religious lines.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52Up here were the Protestants, the Calvinists.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57Down here, in the Flemish bit, were the Catholics.
0:10:59 > 0:11:03So this part and this part were at loggerheads
0:11:03 > 0:11:09and, in 1568, the simmering tension between the Calvinist North
0:11:09 > 0:11:14and the Catholic South erupted into a terrible war.
0:11:14 > 0:11:19One of the most brutal, longest wars in European history
0:11:19 > 0:11:22called the Eighty Years' War.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28Now, Rubens was born in 1577,
0:11:28 > 0:11:31just after the fighting started.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37He died in 1640, a few years before it finished.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43So, for his entire life, all 63 years of it,
0:11:43 > 0:11:47the North was fighting the South.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51The Catholics were fighting the Protestants.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54It's the only reality he ever knew.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00All that was happening around him all the time.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03And it's against that back cloth
0:12:03 > 0:12:06that his life and his art was enacted.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08ECHOING YELLS
0:12:08 > 0:12:10CLASHING WEAPONS
0:12:18 > 0:12:22The conflict in the Netherlands stamped on everything.
0:12:24 > 0:12:29Not just history and maps, but entire families, too.
0:12:36 > 0:12:42Rubens's father, Jan Rubens, was a lawyer from Antwerp
0:12:42 > 0:12:45and, interestingly, a Protestant, a Calvinist.
0:12:45 > 0:12:50And when the Eighty Years' War broke out in 1568
0:12:50 > 0:12:54this Jan Rubens had to flee from Antwerp
0:12:54 > 0:12:59to escape an invading Spanish army that had turned up
0:12:59 > 0:13:02to enforce Catholicism and kill the Protestants.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09He fled here, to Germany, where there was plenty of work
0:13:09 > 0:13:12going for a Protestant lawyer.
0:13:14 > 0:13:19Unfortunately, that's how he came into contact with this woman here,
0:13:19 > 0:13:24Anna of Saxony, the local princess who employed him
0:13:24 > 0:13:27to sort out some financial matters.
0:13:29 > 0:13:34Now, this Anna of Saxony was fascinating, but flawed...
0:13:34 > 0:13:37very flawed.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41She liked a drink and she liked men
0:13:41 > 0:13:47and, as her new lover, she chose Jan Rubens.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53Jan was also married.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56He'd brought his wife with him from Antwerp.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00But when a princess seduces you,
0:14:00 > 0:14:03all the rules get broken, don't they?
0:14:05 > 0:14:08Their affair was short and grubby.
0:14:08 > 0:14:14Anna got pregnant and Jan Rubens was quickly imprisoned
0:14:14 > 0:14:20for the very, very serious crime of adultery with a princess.
0:14:23 > 0:14:29He was in jail for two years, and when they finally let him out
0:14:29 > 0:14:33he moved back in with the wife he'd betrayed
0:14:33 > 0:14:35and proceeded to have more children with her...
0:14:38 > 0:14:44..including, in 1577, the year Anna of Saxony died,
0:14:44 > 0:14:49a son called Peter Paul Rubens.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56Now, Rubens's mother, Marie Pypelincks,
0:14:56 > 0:15:00seems to have been a rather reluctant Calvinist.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04And when Jan Rubens also died in 1587
0:15:04 > 0:15:08she took the family back to Antwerp where they returned
0:15:08 > 0:15:12to a fully Catholic life, as if nothing had happened.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18Rubens was ten when he arrived in Antwerp.
0:15:19 > 0:15:24He was put in a Catholic school and then trained as a painter.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29His talent was obvious
0:15:29 > 0:15:36and the new rulers of the Spanish Netherlands, the Habsburg Archdukes,
0:15:36 > 0:15:41Albert and Isabella, were quick to notice him
0:15:41 > 0:15:42and make him a favourite.
0:15:45 > 0:15:49But when you look at this early Adam and Eve
0:15:49 > 0:15:52painted soon after he finished his apprenticeship...
0:15:54 > 0:15:59..it's worth remembering that the sin of lust
0:15:59 > 0:16:01was embedded in his childhood.
0:16:04 > 0:16:09That religion and its conflicts had stamped on his history,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12and that his betrayed mother
0:16:12 > 0:16:16was the only religious constant he really knew.
0:16:18 > 0:16:23Why did Rubens paint so many Madonnas and children?
0:16:23 > 0:16:25And why are they all so soppy?
0:16:27 > 0:16:29I think it's because they're personal.
0:16:31 > 0:16:32Very personal.
0:16:39 > 0:16:44The Rubens family house was up here in Sint-Michielsstraat.
0:16:44 > 0:16:48Just around the corner, meanwhile, in Kloosterstraat,
0:16:48 > 0:16:51lived the family of Jan Brant,
0:16:51 > 0:16:56an Antwerp lawyer who had a vivacious daughter called Isabella.
0:16:56 > 0:16:59Isabella Brant.
0:16:59 > 0:17:00BICYCLE BELL RINGS
0:17:03 > 0:17:07Isabella was charming, sparky,
0:17:07 > 0:17:10fun to be with and hard working.
0:17:11 > 0:17:15She liked to roll up her sleeves and get things done,
0:17:15 > 0:17:18which is what Rubens liked to do, too.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24She lived so close to him, they could hardly fail to meet
0:17:24 > 0:17:26and soon enough they were courting.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30And, not long after, in 1609, they got married.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36Rubens was 32 when he married Isabella.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40She was 18, but that was normal at the time.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46They moved into this big house here, the Rubens house.
0:17:47 > 0:17:52And, as he was to do with all the people in his life,
0:17:52 > 0:17:56Rubens began putting Isabella into his art.
0:17:58 > 0:18:04Sometimes, he did it officially, as in their touching wedding picture
0:18:04 > 0:18:06in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.
0:18:08 > 0:18:13Rubens and Isabella sitting in a honeysuckle bower,
0:18:13 > 0:18:16all loved up and content.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22Other times, Isabella is lightly disguised.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26Here she is pretending to be the Virgin Mary
0:18:26 > 0:18:29looking after the baby Jesus.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35And I'm pretty sure Jesus is actually their first son,
0:18:35 > 0:18:39Albert, born in 1614.
0:18:41 > 0:18:44And, if I'm not wrong - and I don't think I am -
0:18:44 > 0:18:49isn't this her, as well, gone blonde for a moment?
0:18:49 > 0:18:54And popping up so cheekily as a jolly follower of Bacchus
0:18:54 > 0:18:57in one of Rubens's fleshiest mythologies,
0:18:57 > 0:19:00The Drunken Silenus.
0:19:02 > 0:19:09They were married for 18 years until her early death in 1626.
0:19:10 > 0:19:16And in that time God only knows how many Isabella Brants
0:19:16 > 0:19:20popped up surreptitiously in her husband's art.
0:19:30 > 0:19:36"In front of Rubens, put on blinkers like those a horse wears."
0:19:36 > 0:19:39Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres?
0:19:39 > 0:19:41Ingres wrote that?!
0:19:41 > 0:19:43Horse blinkers! Ah!
0:19:46 > 0:19:50CHURCH BELLS RING
0:19:51 > 0:19:56You don't need blinkers to look at Rubens.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59What you need is a bigger telly.
0:20:03 > 0:20:07Is there anyone called Chris watching this film?
0:20:07 > 0:20:12Like Chris Froome the cyclist or Chris Martin the pop singer?
0:20:13 > 0:20:16Well, if you are watching all you Chrises out there,
0:20:16 > 0:20:19this bit of the film is dedicated to you.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24Chrises of the world,
0:20:24 > 0:20:29how often do you consider the true significance of your name?
0:20:31 > 0:20:33What does Christopher really mean?
0:20:34 > 0:20:40And what's it got to do with this stupendous Rubens masterpiece,
0:20:40 > 0:20:44the Descent From The Cross, in Antwerp Cathedral?
0:20:46 > 0:20:48You have to follow me round here.
0:20:56 > 0:21:01See that huge fellow up there on the back of the side wings?
0:21:01 > 0:21:08That is St Christopher, and he's carrying Christ across the river
0:21:08 > 0:21:12because Christopher, of course, means carrier of Christ.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22Now, St Christopher was the Patron Saint of an organisation
0:21:22 > 0:21:24called the Arquebusiers Guild.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31The arquebusiers used these things,
0:21:31 > 0:21:32arquebuses.
0:21:34 > 0:21:40A big new gun that revolutionised warfare in the Eighty Years' War.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46Here in the Spanish Netherlands, with their endless wars,
0:21:46 > 0:21:50the arquebus was constantly in use
0:21:50 > 0:21:55and, in Antwerp, the arquebusiers had formed their own militia,
0:21:55 > 0:22:00a kind of territorial army whose task was to defend the city.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04And the president of this Arquebusiers Guild
0:22:04 > 0:22:06was a man called Nicolaas Rockox.
0:22:09 > 0:22:13That's him on the left, standing behind the old man.
0:22:16 > 0:22:22In 1611, Rockox and the arquebusiers commissioned Rubens
0:22:22 > 0:22:26to paint a new altar piece for Antwerp Cathedral.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31It's his most famous painting,
0:22:31 > 0:22:34and probably his greatest.
0:22:37 > 0:22:41But to get back to all you Christophers out there,
0:22:41 > 0:22:45this idea of carrying Christ is what unites
0:22:45 > 0:22:50all the bits of this dramatic and magnificent altar piece.
0:22:53 > 0:22:55So in the middle, the dead body of Christ
0:22:55 > 0:22:57is being carried from the cross.
0:22:59 > 0:23:04He suffered his terrible crucifixion and now it's time to bury him.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10You can really feel the weight of his corpse, can't you,
0:23:10 > 0:23:15as all these helpers and apostles lower him down from the cross?
0:23:15 > 0:23:18But it's these women at the foot of the cross
0:23:18 > 0:23:22towards whom it all seems to be slumping.
0:23:25 > 0:23:30On the left, at the bottom, Mary of Cleophas,
0:23:30 > 0:23:32so youthfully beautiful,
0:23:32 > 0:23:35sheds a desperate tear.
0:23:36 > 0:23:41Next to her, Mary Magdalene, the reformed prostitute,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44lets Jesus's foot rest on her shoulder...
0:23:45 > 0:23:49..and makes him suddenly appear weightless.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55So everyone here is carrying Christ,
0:23:55 > 0:23:58and that's what this central panel is about.
0:23:58 > 0:24:03But over here on the left, Rubens winds back the clock
0:24:03 > 0:24:08to the time before Jesus is born, to the so-called Visitation,
0:24:08 > 0:24:12and there's the Blessed Mary again,
0:24:12 > 0:24:16the rather unlikely blonde with the red top,
0:24:16 > 0:24:19and, as you can see, she's heavily pregnant.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26She's come to visit her cousin, Elizabeth,
0:24:26 > 0:24:30and she's carrying Jesus in her womb.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36These days the picture's always open,
0:24:36 > 0:24:40but in Rubens's time it was often closed.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43Like that.
0:24:43 > 0:24:48With St Christopher over here and the old hermit on the other side.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51And then, when they opened it,
0:24:51 > 0:24:53all this was revealed.
0:24:58 > 0:25:02It's like 17th century cinema, isn't it?
0:25:03 > 0:25:07Dramatic, emotional, vivid.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12And all you Christophers out there,
0:25:12 > 0:25:16I want to thank you for this.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24DOOR CREAKS
0:25:30 > 0:25:34Nicolaas Rockox, the President of the Arquebusiers,
0:25:34 > 0:25:39who commissioned Rubens's great Descent from the Cross,
0:25:39 > 0:25:41lived in this house here.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46Rockox was the Mayor of Antwerp several times,
0:25:46 > 0:25:49a very powerful and influential man.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53A good man for Rubens to have on his side,
0:25:53 > 0:25:58and that's him there up on the left of this devotional triptych
0:25:58 > 0:26:01that Rubens painted for him.
0:26:01 > 0:26:02And his wife...
0:26:03 > 0:26:05..she's on the other side.
0:26:08 > 0:26:13Lucky old Rockox had Rubenses all round the house,
0:26:13 > 0:26:18but the one I want to focus on now used to hang here
0:26:18 > 0:26:23above the fireplace where that Rubens Venus is now,
0:26:23 > 0:26:27and in Rockox's time this position here
0:26:27 > 0:26:31was occupied by a very naughty picture.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34A picture which calls for some music.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38MUSIC: Delilah by Tom Jones
0:26:42 > 0:26:47The story of Samson and Delilah is told in the Book of Judges.
0:26:48 > 0:26:52She was a woman from the Valley of Sorek.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56He was an Israelite famed for his great strength.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02The Philistines, traditional enemies of the Israelites,
0:27:02 > 0:27:05promised Delilah money -
0:27:05 > 0:27:081,100 pieces of silver -
0:27:08 > 0:27:12to find out the secret of Samson's strength.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17At first he resisted her,
0:27:17 > 0:27:23but after a night of intense biblical lovemaking,
0:27:23 > 0:27:25Samson could resist no more.
0:27:28 > 0:27:33# But I was lost like a slave that no man could free... #
0:27:35 > 0:27:39So Delilah finds out that the secret of Samson's strength
0:27:39 > 0:27:42is his long hair, and in the Rubens painting
0:27:42 > 0:27:46the Philistines have just arrived at the door
0:27:46 > 0:27:49and they've brought a barber with them.
0:27:49 > 0:27:53# She was my woman... #
0:27:53 > 0:27:56It's such an exciting picture.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00Rubens doesn't just bring the Bible to life,
0:28:00 > 0:28:03he sets it on fire.
0:28:03 > 0:28:05# My, my, my... #
0:28:05 > 0:28:11And will you look at Samson, exhausted by all that sweaty sex,
0:28:11 > 0:28:14just lying there, poleaxed,
0:28:14 > 0:28:19like a goalkeeper who's banged his head against the post.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21# I could see
0:28:21 > 0:28:25# That girl was no good for me... #
0:28:25 > 0:28:30So Nicolaas Rockox commissions Rubens to paint a big warning
0:28:30 > 0:28:33about the seductive power of women
0:28:33 > 0:28:38and to put it above the mantelpiece here where no-one can miss it.
0:28:38 > 0:28:41And what does Rubens do?
0:28:41 > 0:28:45Well, Rubens paints him one of the sexiest pictures
0:28:45 > 0:28:48in the whole of Baroque art.
0:28:48 > 0:28:53An utterly tangible depiction of post-coital exhaustion.
0:28:57 > 0:29:02And if you look around Rubens's art of these busy years,
0:29:02 > 0:29:07you'll find lots of Delilahs scattered about his crowd scenes,
0:29:07 > 0:29:09tempting the Samsons.
0:29:11 > 0:29:16All these beautiful blondes don't just look like Delilah,
0:29:16 > 0:29:18they ARE Delilah.
0:29:19 > 0:29:24The same blonde model popping in and out of Rubens's art
0:29:24 > 0:29:28like a baroque Barbara Windsor in a Carry On film.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31# So, before, they come to break down the door... #
0:29:31 > 0:29:35Sometimes, as in this particularly violent depiction
0:29:35 > 0:29:38of the Massacre of the Innocents,
0:29:38 > 0:29:41she's even wearing the same dress.
0:29:41 > 0:29:42# Forgive me, Delilah
0:29:42 > 0:29:45# I just couldn't take any more. #
0:29:45 > 0:29:46Other times...
0:29:46 > 0:29:48she's not.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05So, how does Rubens do it?
0:30:05 > 0:30:08How does he make his art so vivid?
0:30:10 > 0:30:17To find out, I've wangled my way into a top secret Antwerp warehouse
0:30:17 > 0:30:22where a team of busy restorers is working on a Rubens Madonna.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25'Thank you for letting me in here.'
0:30:25 > 0:30:29It's painted as most of his best work was painted,
0:30:29 > 0:30:33not on canvas but on wood.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37Antwerp, in fact, the Antwerp School of painting
0:30:37 > 0:30:41is one of the few schools that is still painting on wood
0:30:41 > 0:30:43in the early 17th century.
0:30:45 > 0:30:47The tradition of painting on wood in Flanders
0:30:47 > 0:30:50had a long tradition, of course,
0:30:50 > 0:30:52since the times of Van Aken and Brueghel,
0:30:52 > 0:30:57and on the smooth panels
0:30:57 > 0:31:01every brush stroke is visible and remains visible.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06And so also the difference between these brush strokes,
0:31:06 > 0:31:09so the very smooth glazing areas,
0:31:09 > 0:31:14but also the very upstanding, very three dimensional highlights.
0:31:16 > 0:31:19That's a difference that I always noticed with Rubens.
0:31:20 > 0:31:22The surfaces look very kind of liquid almost,
0:31:22 > 0:31:25as if they haven't quite solidified.
0:31:25 > 0:31:29There's a brilliant sort of skating feeling across the paintings.
0:31:29 > 0:31:30Absolutely.
0:31:30 > 0:31:34Rubens really loved to paint on a smooth surface.
0:31:35 > 0:31:40Also, on panel, you could paint very differently.
0:31:40 > 0:31:45So his painting on panel became more, let's say, atmospheric.
0:31:48 > 0:31:52Now, let's talk about this wood. Where did it come from?
0:31:52 > 0:31:54I think I read somewhere that a lot of it came from my country,
0:31:54 > 0:31:56from Poland.
0:31:56 > 0:32:00Well, it comes exactly from Poland and the Baltic region.
0:32:00 > 0:32:06It was, let's say, shipped toward Antwerp and then when it arrived
0:32:06 > 0:32:12it was, of course, cut into planks and then panels were made,
0:32:12 > 0:32:17and these panels had standard shapes, they had standard formats.
0:32:17 > 0:32:19When you look at Rubens, though,
0:32:19 > 0:32:21quite often you see the lines, don't you?
0:32:21 > 0:32:24You can still see the lines where the panels were,
0:32:24 > 0:32:27so it wasn't made from one panel, it was made from separate pieces.
0:32:27 > 0:32:29That has to do with the fact that Rubens,
0:32:29 > 0:32:31when he developed his ideas,
0:32:31 > 0:32:38was one of the first painters that didn't take the format for granted.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41So, while he's thinking about his composition
0:32:41 > 0:32:42he often enlarges it.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46A good example for us is the Madonna with the Parrot,
0:32:46 > 0:32:50which started as a smaller Madonna picture
0:32:50 > 0:32:53and then completely overworked, completely overpainted
0:32:53 > 0:32:59and so it became this very Baroque, very Italianate large piece.
0:32:59 > 0:33:02- Maybe we can have a closer look, as well?- Yes, absolutely.
0:33:02 > 0:33:07So, the painting was started by Rubens in 1614
0:33:07 > 0:33:12and the painting was, in fact, a standing format
0:33:12 > 0:33:17from approximately here to there and high as such.
0:33:17 > 0:33:19So, just a Madonna and child?
0:33:19 > 0:33:23A Madonna and child, without a parrot, without St Joseph.
0:33:23 > 0:33:25So, only the Madonna.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29Then, the painting was still in his studio,
0:33:29 > 0:33:33he didn't sell it, apparently, and then in 1630
0:33:33 > 0:33:38he turned it into something which is far grander,
0:33:38 > 0:33:40far more monumental,
0:33:40 > 0:33:43so more an Italianate, Venetian painting.
0:33:43 > 0:33:44That's so interesting.
0:33:44 > 0:33:47Can I ask, though, why would he bother doing that?
0:33:47 > 0:33:49I mean, you've got a picture here
0:33:49 > 0:33:52which, by Rubens standards, is quite modest.
0:33:52 > 0:33:54Why didn't he just start from scratch?
0:33:54 > 0:33:58Why would he begin to enlarge it like this?
0:33:58 > 0:34:00Never waste something that exists
0:34:00 > 0:34:04and transform it into your idiom of the moment.
0:34:04 > 0:34:08I think he wanted to get rid of an older Madonna he couldn't sell
0:34:08 > 0:34:10or he didn't sell and the...
0:34:10 > 0:34:13And it makes it a much more glorious painting.
0:34:13 > 0:34:14Absolutely.
0:34:17 > 0:34:19I tell you what I really like here...
0:34:19 > 0:34:20..this red.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23- Absolutely.- Rubens's red.
0:34:23 > 0:34:25It's like a lipstick on a woman's lips.
0:34:25 > 0:34:27That's his colour, that's his colour.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31His balance of colours is always turning to the reds.
0:34:32 > 0:34:34The reds are his.
0:34:41 > 0:34:45One of the big criticisms that's always levelled at Rubens
0:34:45 > 0:34:48is that he churned out too many pictures.
0:34:48 > 0:34:52His studio was the biggest and busiest in Europe
0:34:52 > 0:34:55so there are a lot of Rubens's out there.
0:34:55 > 0:34:58Too many for one man to have painted.
0:34:59 > 0:35:03So the worry is his assistants did it all for him.
0:35:07 > 0:35:10It's true, he was amazingly prolific
0:35:10 > 0:35:13and to achieve all that Rubens achieved
0:35:13 > 0:35:17did require the assistance of a busy studio.
0:35:19 > 0:35:21But why is that so terrible?
0:35:23 > 0:35:27We don't expect an architect to lay all his own bricks
0:35:27 > 0:35:31or a composer to play all the instruments.
0:35:33 > 0:35:37So why, in art, are we so reluctant to admire
0:35:37 > 0:35:40a collaborative effort?
0:35:47 > 0:35:52Now, this little picture is by Rubens and by Jan Brueghel.
0:35:54 > 0:35:55So's this one.
0:35:56 > 0:35:57And this one.
0:35:58 > 0:36:00They're so petite!
0:36:00 > 0:36:04Look! Five exciting little pictures
0:36:04 > 0:36:10packed, rammed with so much stuff.
0:36:12 > 0:36:17They're actually allegories of the senses, five of them,
0:36:17 > 0:36:20each picture a different sense.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24This one here with all the flowers,
0:36:24 > 0:36:26that's the sense of smell.
0:36:29 > 0:36:33The one with the telescope in it and all the magnifying gizmos,
0:36:33 > 0:36:34that's sight.
0:36:36 > 0:36:41And this one, my favourite, with Venus playing a lute
0:36:41 > 0:36:43and Cupid singing,
0:36:43 > 0:36:44that's hearing.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50CHOIR SINGS
0:36:54 > 0:36:58The actual music that Venus and Cupid are playing in the picture
0:36:58 > 0:37:01and that you're listening to now
0:37:01 > 0:37:07is a madrigal by the 16th century English composer, Peter Philips.
0:37:08 > 0:37:12And all those notes on the table, those are the actual notes.
0:37:16 > 0:37:20The musical instruments are perfectly identifiable, too.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25The birds are all birds that are famous for talking.
0:37:26 > 0:37:30Macaws, a cockatoo
0:37:30 > 0:37:34and, under the keyboard, a cheeky toucan.
0:37:37 > 0:37:42To work out all the symbolism packed into these five paintings
0:37:42 > 0:37:48would take several hours, so my advice to you is to come back here
0:37:48 > 0:37:49to the Prado one day
0:37:49 > 0:37:54and to spend the whole day in front of Brueghel and Rubens.
0:37:54 > 0:37:56You'll really enjoy it.
0:37:59 > 0:38:03But why is Rubens working with Brueghel?
0:38:04 > 0:38:08Who did what in these exciting allegories?
0:38:08 > 0:38:09And why?
0:38:12 > 0:38:15Brueghel was renowned as a still life painter
0:38:15 > 0:38:18and he specialised in these busy allegories.
0:38:18 > 0:38:23He was actually taught to paint miniatures by his grandmother
0:38:23 > 0:38:27and some of the detail in this picture is so fine
0:38:27 > 0:38:33that he had to paint it with a brush that only had one hair.
0:38:36 > 0:38:41So, most of what you see here was painted by Brueghel
0:38:41 > 0:38:44who'd lay out the picture and pack it with details.
0:38:46 > 0:38:51But he'd leave empty spaces for Venus and Cupid
0:38:51 > 0:38:57and the picture was then taken round the corner to Rubens's studio
0:38:57 > 0:39:00and Rubens would put in the figures.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06What an extraordinary way to make pictures.
0:39:06 > 0:39:09The question is, why bother?
0:39:12 > 0:39:18It certainly wasn't because Brueghel couldn't do the figures himself.
0:39:18 > 0:39:23In his own art, like this bustling country road in Brabant,
0:39:23 > 0:39:29Brueghel was perfectly capable of doing all sorts of figures.
0:39:31 > 0:39:34Breughel didn't collaborate with Rubens
0:39:34 > 0:39:36because he couldn't do figures.
0:39:36 > 0:39:41Breughel collaborated with Rubens, his friend and neighbour,
0:39:41 > 0:39:46because their joint achievement was more valuable
0:39:46 > 0:39:48than an individual achievement.
0:39:50 > 0:39:55Brueghel pulled Rubens in a different direction.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58Their shared accomplishment
0:39:58 > 0:40:01was something more than a solo accomplishment.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07And is collaboration really such a bad thing
0:40:07 > 0:40:11when it gives us art as good as this?
0:40:17 > 0:40:20- HE SIGHS - Not more Blake.
0:40:20 > 0:40:22"You must agree that Rubens was a fool
0:40:22 > 0:40:25"and yet you make him Master of your school."
0:40:26 > 0:40:29Rubens a fool!
0:40:29 > 0:40:31He just doesn't get it, does he?
0:40:33 > 0:40:34Just doesn't get it.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40Rubens was anything but a fool.
0:40:40 > 0:40:45If he'd never been a painter he'd still have been an important figure
0:40:45 > 0:40:50in another crucial field of European history -
0:40:50 > 0:40:52politics.
0:40:53 > 0:40:55Rubens was the most politically active
0:40:55 > 0:40:58and powerful artist there's ever been.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01He was the Henry Kissinger of his times.
0:41:01 > 0:41:05To have achieved what he did in politics while keeping down
0:41:05 > 0:41:10his day job as Europe's greatest painter was remarkable.
0:41:13 > 0:41:14To give you a sense of
0:41:14 > 0:41:19the twisted political realities of Rubens's world,
0:41:19 > 0:41:24here's his Head Of Medusa, painted in 1617.
0:41:26 > 0:41:31See Medusa's hair, how knotted and slimy and slippery it is?
0:41:32 > 0:41:37Well, the politics of Rubens's world were like that.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43To understand what was going on in Rubens's day
0:41:43 > 0:41:46between Spain, France,
0:41:46 > 0:41:49England, the Spanish Netherlands
0:41:49 > 0:41:52and the breakaway Dutch Provinces,
0:41:52 > 0:41:55you don't just need a degree in history,
0:41:55 > 0:42:00you need to be pretty good at geometry, too,
0:42:00 > 0:42:03and biology - it's very complicated.
0:42:06 > 0:42:10Isabella, the ruler of the Spanish Netherlands...
0:42:12 > 0:42:15..was married to her cousin, Albert,
0:42:15 > 0:42:17so they were both Habsburgs,
0:42:17 > 0:42:21and together they ruled the Spanish Netherlands.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25And this Habsburg connection is crucial...
0:42:28 > 0:42:31..because Isabella was also the daughter...
0:42:35 > 0:42:39..of Philip II, the Habsburg King of Spain,
0:42:39 > 0:42:42who, you may remember, was King of England, too,
0:42:42 > 0:42:47when he briefly married Queen Mary, the daughter of Henry VIII.
0:42:48 > 0:42:50Now, Philip's dream...
0:42:51 > 0:42:55..was to restore Catholicism to England.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58That's why he sent over the Spanish Armada to conquer England.
0:43:02 > 0:43:05However, back in the Spanish Netherlands...
0:43:08 > 0:43:12..Philip's daughter, Isabella, didn't want war with England,
0:43:12 > 0:43:16she wanted peace, because Isabella's dream
0:43:16 > 0:43:19was to restore a United Netherlands,
0:43:19 > 0:43:22and that's also want Rubens wanted.
0:43:25 > 0:43:31In 1621, Albert, Isabella's husband and cousin,
0:43:31 > 0:43:34died, and that left Isabella...
0:43:36 > 0:43:40..as the sole ruler of the Spanish Netherlands,
0:43:40 > 0:43:43and so heartbroken was she by Albert's death
0:43:43 > 0:43:46that she retired from courtly life...
0:43:46 > 0:43:49BELL TOLLING
0:43:52 > 0:43:56..and became a nun.
0:43:56 > 0:43:58A Poor Clare, as they were called.
0:44:00 > 0:44:04From now on she ran the country from a monastery,
0:44:04 > 0:44:08with the help of her closest political advisor,
0:44:08 > 0:44:11her court painter, Rubens.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20As the greatest artist in Europe,
0:44:20 > 0:44:23Rubens was welcomed at every court.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26Everyone wanted to be painted by him.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30And while he was painting them,
0:44:30 > 0:44:32well, there was lots of time, wasn't there,
0:44:32 > 0:44:35to discuss a bit of politics?
0:44:36 > 0:44:40Share some confidences, make a couple of suggestions.
0:44:44 > 0:44:50Back at the Eighty Years' War, Isabella, hoping to achieve peace,
0:44:50 > 0:44:56needed Spain to ally herself with her historic enemy, England.
0:44:58 > 0:45:00So she spent her best diplomat...
0:45:02 > 0:45:03..Rubens...
0:45:06 > 0:45:12..to Spain, where his task was to persuade the new Spanish King,
0:45:12 > 0:45:16Philip IV, who was Isabella's nephew...
0:45:19 > 0:45:22..to enter into a new alliance...
0:45:24 > 0:45:27..with Charles I and England.
0:45:27 > 0:45:29And that's why, in 1629,
0:45:29 > 0:45:35having smooth-talked Philip IV round to Isabella's way of thinking,
0:45:35 > 0:45:37Rubens arrived in London
0:45:37 > 0:45:41and set about charming Charles I, as well.
0:45:45 > 0:45:50This was actually painted by Rubens's greatest pupil, Van Dyke.
0:45:50 > 0:45:54It still hangs in Buckingham Palace today.
0:45:55 > 0:45:59How do you get a king to eat out of your hand?
0:46:01 > 0:46:04You put him on a big white horse
0:46:04 > 0:46:08and give him the bearing of a mighty warrior.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11It's what's called the Rubens way.
0:46:17 > 0:46:19And it didn't stop there.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22To ingratiate himself further with Charles I,
0:46:22 > 0:46:28Rubens offered to paint the ceiling of this famous building here,
0:46:28 > 0:46:32Inigo Jones' Banqueting House in Whitehall.
0:46:35 > 0:46:39It's the only great painted ceiling by Rubens
0:46:39 > 0:46:43that's still in situ in the place for which it was painted.
0:46:45 > 0:46:51All this art, all this effort and time and invention,
0:46:51 > 0:46:55lavished on England in the pursuit of peace.
0:47:02 > 0:47:05And, do you know what? It worked.
0:47:05 > 0:47:10All this cunning artistic diplomacy by Rubens worked,
0:47:10 > 0:47:14and to thank Rubens for his diplomatic services
0:47:14 > 0:47:16Charles knighted him
0:47:16 > 0:47:21and also gave him a diamond-studded hatband for his hat.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28For Rubens, though, enough was enough.
0:47:28 > 0:47:30He was a painter, not a diplomat.
0:47:32 > 0:47:37Having successfully engineered a peace between Britain and Spain,
0:47:37 > 0:47:42the Henry Kissinger of the Baroque returned to Antwerp
0:47:42 > 0:47:44and gave up politics forever.
0:47:46 > 0:47:52From now on Rubens's attention was claimed fully by his day job
0:47:52 > 0:47:56and by the other great love of his life.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59Women.
0:48:06 > 0:48:12Isabella Brant had died of the plague in 1626
0:48:12 > 0:48:17and a lonely Rubens needed to find a new wife.
0:48:18 > 0:48:22The one he found, Helene Fourment,
0:48:22 > 0:48:25would become one of the most painted women in art.
0:48:27 > 0:48:31Helene Fourment was 16 when she married Rubens
0:48:31 > 0:48:34and he was 53.
0:48:34 > 0:48:40Now, in those days it was less of an issue, but it was still unexpected.
0:48:43 > 0:48:49Rubens's friends thought he'd choose a countess, or maybe a duchess.
0:48:49 > 0:48:54That's how high he'd climbed up the social ladder.
0:48:54 > 0:48:58Instead he chose the daughter of a tapestry salesman.
0:48:59 > 0:49:04Homely, unpretentious and beautiful,
0:49:04 > 0:49:08in a full-bodied Flemish way.
0:49:10 > 0:49:15Rubens was always a very sensual painter, very physical,
0:49:15 > 0:49:18unusually physical,
0:49:18 > 0:49:21and his art often makes very clear
0:49:21 > 0:49:26how much he enjoyed the pleasurable side of marriage.
0:49:29 > 0:49:34Helene Fourment begins to appear and reappear in his pictures
0:49:34 > 0:49:36with remarkable frequency.
0:49:38 > 0:49:41Sometimes she's a country girl.
0:49:42 > 0:49:44Sometimes a goddess.
0:49:46 > 0:49:51Sometimes she's all over the place and pops up throughout the picture.
0:49:54 > 0:49:58And sometimes she's entirely undisguised.
0:49:59 > 0:50:04Rubens's wife, mother of his children, the woman he loves.
0:50:15 > 0:50:19This is the most notorious of his depictions of her.
0:50:19 > 0:50:22Helene Fourment in a fur coat.
0:50:22 > 0:50:24It's notorious because...
0:50:24 > 0:50:27Well, you can see why, can't you?
0:50:30 > 0:50:35It's not every day that a great painter shows us his wife...
0:50:35 > 0:50:36like this.
0:50:37 > 0:50:39She's just had her bath
0:50:39 > 0:50:44and as she steps towards us she's grabbed a handy bit of fur
0:50:44 > 0:50:48and wrapped it round herself to cover herself up.
0:50:49 > 0:50:53But the fur's not doing very well, is it?
0:50:53 > 0:50:57There's more of Helene Fourment poking out than poking in.
0:50:59 > 0:51:03It's actually another clever bit of roleplaying.
0:51:03 > 0:51:07She's meant to be Venus, the Goddess of Love,
0:51:07 > 0:51:13the most famous woman ever to step out of the sea, naked and wet,
0:51:13 > 0:51:16and it's Venus in a particular guise.
0:51:16 > 0:51:21What they call Venus Pudica, the shy Venus.
0:51:24 > 0:51:31It's the same Venus that Botticelli painted in his most famous picture,
0:51:31 > 0:51:35coming out of the sea, covering herself up so shyly.
0:51:37 > 0:51:41But look how vividly Rubens updates her shyness.
0:51:43 > 0:51:45How real he makes it.
0:51:48 > 0:51:50There's an awkwardness to her, isn't there?
0:51:50 > 0:51:54As there would be, if you had to stand about like that.
0:51:54 > 0:51:57But the fur coat - that's a brilliant touch,
0:51:57 > 0:52:00which plucks her out of the clouds
0:52:00 > 0:52:06and brings her right back down to earth, in Antwerp in the 1630s.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11I love her dimply knees
0:52:11 > 0:52:14and that soft tummy of hers.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19That's not the tummy of a goddess,
0:52:19 > 0:52:21that's the tummy of a real woman.
0:52:23 > 0:52:28Rubens has cast his wife as the Venus of Antwerp,
0:52:28 > 0:52:32but he's also worshipping her evident humanity.
0:52:33 > 0:52:39A happy man in a happy marriage is making clear in his art
0:52:39 > 0:52:42how he feels about the woman he loves.
0:52:44 > 0:52:46Isn't that marvellous?
0:52:50 > 0:52:52I think we need a summary
0:52:52 > 0:52:56to count up all the things that Rubens achieved.
0:52:56 > 0:52:58One -
0:52:58 > 0:53:00he painted some of the most exciting
0:53:00 > 0:53:05and dramatic religious art of the Baroque era.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09Two - he painted some very entertaining mythologies
0:53:09 > 0:53:13and broke world records for filling his pictures
0:53:13 > 0:53:16with cheeky cherubs and fleshy nudes.
0:53:17 > 0:53:21Three - he was a great portraitist.
0:53:21 > 0:53:25His portraits are so vivid and compelling,
0:53:25 > 0:53:28particularly his portraits of his wives.
0:53:28 > 0:53:29How touching they are.
0:53:31 > 0:53:37Four - size-wise his scale is unchallenged.
0:53:37 > 0:53:42No-one painted art as big and as ambitious as Rubens's art.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47Which takes me straight to number five,
0:53:47 > 0:53:51which is how madly inventive he was.
0:53:52 > 0:53:57Everywhere you look in Rubens something remarkable is going on.
0:54:00 > 0:54:05Six - technically he was as good as any painter has ever been.
0:54:05 > 0:54:09A wizard of the paintbrush who made the paint sing
0:54:09 > 0:54:12and the colours dance.
0:54:12 > 0:54:17Seven - he collaborated with some of the best artists of his time
0:54:17 > 0:54:23and the results of this exciting pictorial democracy are glorious.
0:54:24 > 0:54:26Eight - and this is something
0:54:26 > 0:54:28I haven't even had time to deal with yet,
0:54:28 > 0:54:33but believe or not Rubens designed wonderful tapestries.
0:54:33 > 0:54:37And at the Covent of the Poor Clares in Madrid
0:54:37 > 0:54:42you get a really good sense of how big and spectacular
0:54:42 > 0:54:44his tapestries were.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48Nine - and I haven't been able to fit this in either,
0:54:48 > 0:54:50he was an architect,
0:54:50 > 0:54:56and the Church of the Jesuits in Antwerp, with that superb facade,
0:54:56 > 0:54:59that was Rubens's handiwork, too.
0:55:03 > 0:55:06So here's a man who could achieve all that.
0:55:06 > 0:55:09Surely he couldn't do any more.
0:55:09 > 0:55:11Well, actually he could,
0:55:11 > 0:55:16because Rubens was also a great landscape painter,
0:55:16 > 0:55:18and that is number ten.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24When Rubens married Helene Fourment
0:55:24 > 0:55:28they moved out here to the Chateau de Steen,
0:55:28 > 0:55:32the great country house they shared so happily,
0:55:32 > 0:55:36where Rubens's art put on its wellies
0:55:36 > 0:55:40and began filling its lungs with fresh country air.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48This part of Flanders, around the Chateau de Steen, is called Brabant,
0:55:48 > 0:55:51and this was his inspiration.
0:55:53 > 0:55:55Oh, look, some goldfinches.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59Oh, look, a kingfisher.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05In his revolutionary landscapes,
0:56:05 > 0:56:11Rubens's brush explores the Brabant countryside like a happy dog.
0:56:13 > 0:56:19No-one had painted landscapes as fresh and airy as these before.
0:56:19 > 0:56:22And look how big they are!
0:56:22 > 0:56:29And how far away the horizon seems in these endless panoramas.
0:56:35 > 0:56:37He did night scenes, too.
0:56:37 > 0:56:39There's a particularly beautiful one
0:56:39 > 0:56:41at the Courtauld Galleries in London.
0:56:43 > 0:56:48The evening sky twinkling with dreamy stars
0:56:48 > 0:56:51and such a gorgeous atmosphere of romance.
0:56:54 > 0:56:59Rubens at his soppiest, melting the hardest heart.
0:57:05 > 0:57:07But he could do storms, too.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11They're some of the fiercest in art.
0:57:13 > 0:57:16You wouldn't want to be out in a Rubens storm.
0:57:19 > 0:57:25Rubens's views from his window celebrate nature's many moods.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33Having reinvented everything else,
0:57:33 > 0:57:40Rubens, as his final contribution, reinvents the landscape, too.
0:57:42 > 0:57:46That's the kind of man we're dealing with here.