Rubens: Picturing Antiquity

Peter Paul Rubens, The Calydonian Boar Hunt, ca. 1611–1612, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

The dynamic Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) was to a great extent inspired by the art and literature of classical antiquity. Presented amidst the antiquities collection at the Getty Villa, this exhibition juxtaposes the artist’s exhilarating drawings, oil sketches, and monumental paintings with rarely shown ancient objects, including exquisite gems owned by Rubens himself. Heroic nudes, fierce hunts, splendid military processions, and Bacchic revels attest to the artist’s extraordinary ability to translate an array of sources into new subjects.

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