Peter Paul (Born 1577) was one of the most successful and famous European artists of the 17th century. This Flemish artist is well known for such works as the "Wolf and Fox Hunt", "The Descent from the Cross", "The Garden of Love," Self-Portrait with Helena and Peter Paul", and "Peace and War".
Peter’s father died in 1587. This made his family to move to Belgium (formerly Antwerp) where he received an education and artistic training. He was admitted into Antwerp’s professional guild for painters in 1598 after serving as an apprentice to several established artists. Peter travelled to Italy in 1600, where he viewed the works of such renowned artists such as Michelangelo and Raphael in Rome, and Tintoretto and Titian in Venice. He was soon employed by the duke of Mantua, Vincenzo I Gonzaga, to paint portraits. The duke also sponsored his travels. He was sent to Spain, Italy and then to Rome. As a highly talented artist and a gifted businessman, Peter began to receive to paint portraits for private clients and religious works for churches.
Peter’s ability to work on a large scale, his skill at arranging complex groupings of figures in a composition, his personal eloquence and charm, and his ease at depicting diverse subjects all contributed to his success. The admirers of his work included Rembrandt, his contemporary, as well as artists of later centuries and other regions, from Eugène Delacroix to Thomas Gainsborough. Peter’s style combined dynamic poses, lush brushwork, and lively sense of realism with Renaissance idealization of the human form. His fondness for depicting curvaceous, fleshy female bodies has made the word "Rubenesque" very popular.
