{"id":3042,"date":"2024-06-19T15:58:34","date_gmt":"2024-06-19T13:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jordaens-antwerpen.be\/home\/east\/rubens-house\/rubens-self-portrait-1638\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T09:44:03","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T07:44:03","slug":"rubens-self-portrait-1638","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.jordaens-antwerpen.be\/en\/home\/east\/rubens-house\/rubens-self-portrait-1638\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubens: self-portrait 1638"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Timeline 1638: Self-portrait of older Rubens<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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252 surviving letters from Rubens give us an insight into his life and work as a painter and also as a diplomat. Rubens wrote about his wife Helena only once, without mentioning her name. More personal in style are the messages to his pupil and collaborator Lucas Fayd’herbe; they read like modern-day emails. <\/em><\/p>\n

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Peter Paul Rubens talks:<\/em><\/p>\n

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Take a look at my self-portrait of 1638; do I look tired? Well, in fact, you\u2019re right.<\/p>\n

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Looking back on my travels to Spain or England, I am grateful. Diplomatic negotiations have gone well to the satisfaction of my principals. And I have nowadays regained my peace of mind, since I left all those activities behind me. All I do now, is practise my wonderful profession of painter.<\/p>\n

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I admit that city life sometimes was too busy for me, as it was for Helena and the children. That\u2019s why I own a house in the countryside. I bought the Manor\/Hof van Lanceloot van Ursel<\/em>, in Ekeren (Schoonbroek district) in 1627. It\u2019s about an hour’s drive away from Antwerp city centre.<\/p>\n

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And a few years later, on May 12, 1635, I bought an old, knight\u2019s castle in Elewijt (between Mechelen and Vilvoorde) for 93,000 guilders (converted about \u20ac1,250,000 ). I didn\u2019t only buy the building itself, called ‘The Stone Manor\/Het Steen’<\/em>, but also the lands and woods around it. Over there, people call me “My Lord”, in two words that is.<\/p>\n

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Over there, I take time to write letters. The quill is a little more patient than the brush, when I have a gout attack. May I read two fragments to you?<\/p>\n

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To my good friend Peiresc (on December 18, 1634, in Italian):<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“Now, by the grace of God, I am at ease with my wife and children, with no other claim to the world than to live in peace. I decided to get married because I had determined that I was not yet fit for abstinence in celibacy … I chose a young woman from a respectable family, albeit bourgeois, although everyone had advised me to get a noblewoman. But I was anxious about the arrogance, which is the general malady of the aristocracy, especially in that sex; and so I preferred a woman who would not blush when she saw me take my brush.”<\/em><\/p>\n

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More than 10 years ago, on June 5, 1624, I was ennobled by our king Philip IV. A few years later, on July 16, 1631, he made me a ‘knight’; that\u2019s why I have a sword with me in this portrait.<\/p>\n

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King Charles, in turn, gave me the formal title of ‘Sir’, on February 21, 1630.<\/p>\n

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From the Steen, I also wrote to my esteemed collaborator Lucas Fayd’herbe, on August 17, 1638:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Addressed: “To Mons.r<\/sup> Lucas Fedarbe, at the home of Monsieur Pietro Pauolo Rubens, on the Wapper. Cito, cito, cito, to Antwerp. Post.”
\n<\/em>Dear and beloved Lucas,
\nI hope this will reach you still in Antwerp, because I urgently need a panel with three life-size faces on it, by my hand. .. You’ll do me a great favour by sending the same here at once, or, if you’re ready to come yourself, bringing it with you. …
\n<\/em>Mr Lucas,
\n<\/em>Your obliging friend,
\nPietro Pauolo Rubens
\n<\/em>When you leave, make sure that everything is locked up properly; also, that no originals or sketches should remain on the upper storeys of the painter’s quarters. Please remind William, the gardener, that in due course he will send us the [rosile]-pears and the figs if any, or anything else from the garden, that is suitable …. <\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Route East: walk across the Hopland, past the new building of the visitor centre at the Rubens House, turn left into the Otto Veniusstraat<\/a>. There is a commemorative plaque at house number 21. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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[1]<\/a> Converted about \u20ac1.250.000.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Timeline 1638: Self-portrait of older Rubens 252 surviving letters from Rubens give us an insight into his life and work […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3034,"menu_order":214,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"full-width-container","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3042","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t