In his early portraits in Italy, Rubens modelled himself on the local artistic tradition. As in his history pieces, here, too, he found his starting point in the work of the great sixteenth-century Venetians. Explicitly Venetian are the two large equestrian portraits Rubens made in his Italian period. The fine full-length portraits of ladies from the highest social circles in Genoa, painted around 1606-07, possess an even more pronouncedly Venetian stamp. Their portraits have none of the courtly formality that was so characteristic of the Low Countries tradition of portraiture. Once back in Antwerp in 1608, Rubens adapted himself again to the Netherlandish tradition. Rubens group portraits of these years are notable for their severe structure.

Up to about 1620 Rubens's portraits — like all his work — continued to be marked by an emphatic plasticity and a smooth, impasto execution which allowed the painter to depict the texture of skin and clothing with conviction and sensitivity. In the later years of the second decade, however, Rubens's portraits started to make a more supple and lifelike impression, which gives them a spontaneity and directness which they had not possessed since his years in Italy.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 5 minutes): Alessandro Stradella: Sinfonia avanti il Barcheggio

Preview	Picture Data	File Info	Comment
	Portrait of a Man, Possibly an Architect or Geographer 1597 Oil on copper, 22 x 15 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York	788*1200 True Color 141 Kb
	Duke of Lerma c. 1603 Oil on canvas, 283 x 200 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid	900*1271 True Color 159 Kb
	Portrait of Marchesa Brigida Spinola Doria 1606 Oil on canvas, 152 x 99 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington	850*1300 True Color 154 Kb
	Equestrian Portrait of Giancarlo Doria c. 1606 Oil on canvas, 265 x 188 cm Galleria Nazional della Liguria, Genoa	700*1077 True Color 98 Kb
	Portrait of Maria Serra Pallavicino 1606 Oil on canvas, 241 x 140 cm Private collection	800*1237 True Color 172 Kb
	Portrait of Kaspar Scioppius c. 1606 Oil on canvas, 116 x 88 cm Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence	971*1300 True Color 147 Kb
	Self-Portrait in a Circle of Friends from Mantua - Oil on canvas, 78 x 101 cm Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne	1124*850 True Color 106 Kb
	Christoffel Plantin - Oil on canvas Museum Plantin-Moretus, Antwerp	703*1022 True Color 106 Kb
	The Artist and His First Wife, Isabella Brant, in the Honeysuckle Bower 1609-10 Oil on canvas, 178 x 136,5 cm Alte Pinakothek, Munich	1000*1311 True Color 227 Kb
	The Four Philosophers 1611-12 Oil on canvas, 164 x 139 cm Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence	1034*1200 True Color 140 Kb
	Portrait of a Young Girl 1615-16 Oil on canvas, 37 x 27 cm Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna	950*1177 True Color 157 Kb
	Boy with Bird c. 1616 Oil on panel, 49 x 40 cm Staatliche Museen, Berlin	1000*1215 True Color 177 Kb
	Portrait of Jan Vermoelen 1616 Oil on panel, 126 x 96 cm Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna	1000*1311 True Color 73 Kb
	Portrait of Nicolas de Respaigne 1616-18 Oil on canvas, 206 x 120 cm Staatliche Museen, Kassel	700*1232 True Color 155 Kb
	Portrait of Lady Arundel with her Train 1620 Oil on canvas Alte Pinakothek, Munich	1107*1100 True Color 148 Kb
	Portrait of Infanta Clara Eugenia, Governess of the Netherlands 1620 Oil on canvas, 116 x 96 cm Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence	841*1020 True Color 116 Kb
	Marie de Médici, Queen of France c. 1622 Oil on canvas, 130 x 108 cm Museo del Prado, Madrid	900*1104 True Color 78 Kb
	Portrait of Anne of Austria 1621-25 Oil on canvas, 85 x 37 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris	990*1200 True Color 161 Kb
	Matthaeus Yrsselius, Abbot of Sint-Michiel's Abbey in Antwerp c. 1624 Oil on oak panel, 120 x 103 cm Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen	1258*1500 True Color 158 Kb
	Portrait of George Villiers, First Duke of Buckingham c. 1625 Oil on canvas, 65 x 50 cm Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence	681*960 True Color 63 Kb
	Portrait of a Woman - Oil on canvas Musée des Beaux-Arts, Marseille	729*1030 True Color 119 Kb
	Portrait of a Chambermaid c. 1625 Oil on panel, 64 x 48 cm The Hermitage, St. Petersburg	945*1253 True Color 79 Kb
	The Straw Hat c. 1625 Oil on wood, 79 x 55 cm National Gallery, London	746*1101 True Color 140 Kb
	Isabella Brandt (?) c. 1626 Oil on oak, 98 x 72 cm Staatliche Museen, Berlin	1037*1400 True Color 146 Kb
	Isabella Brandt c. 1626 Oil on canvas, 86 x 62 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence	850*1181 True Color 116 Kb
	Portrait of a Woman, Probably Susanna Fourment 1625-27 Oil on wood, 77 x 60 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York	1690*2200 True Color 238 Kb
	Albert and Nicolaas Rubens 1626-27 Oil on wood, 157 x 93 cm Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna	940*1600 True Color 112 Kb
	Self-Portrait with a Hat 1623-25 Oil on wood, 85 x 61 cm Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence	800*952 True Color 52 Kb
	Self-Portrait 1628 Oil on canvas Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence	561*700 True Color 76 Kb
	Portrait of Jan Gaspar Gevartius c. 1628 Oil on panel, 119 x 98 cm Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp	851*1037 True Color 100 Kb
	Portrait of Ambrogio Spinola 1625-28 Oil on oak, 117 x 85 cm Národní Galerie, Prague	852*1200 True Color 182 Kb
	Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara 1600s Oil on canvas, 127 x 98 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York	783*1001 True Color 71 Kb
	Charles V in Armour 1603 Oil on canvas, 119 x 93 cm Private collection	850*1122 True Color 111 Kb
	Charles V and the Empress Isabella - Oil on canvas, 114 x 166 cm Collection of the Dukes of Alba, Madrisd	1324*900 True Color 138 Kb