Follower of Peter Paul Rubens

Follower OF PETER PAUL RUBENS (Siegen, Germany, 1577 - Antwerp, 1640); 18th century.
"The adoration of the kings".
Oil on canvas.
Measurements: 46 x 63 cm; 67 x 87 cm (frame).
This canvas represents a classic theme in the History of Art, that of the Kings adoring the newborn baby Jesus in the portal of Bethlehem. It is a scene that lends itself to be interpreted as a large composition with numerous characters, worked in a costumbrista key, so it was very much to the taste of Baroque painters, who sought above all a natural and close art, which moved the mood of the faithful and made them feel close to what was represented on the canvas, to the sacred story. In this way, the divine elements are reduced to a minimum.
Both for the dynamic composition of the scene, as well as for the anatomical conception of the figures, the piece is very reminiscent of works by the artist Peter Paul Rubens. Peter Paul Rubens was a painter of the Flemish school who, however, competed on equal terms with contemporary Italian artists, and enjoyed a very important international importance, since his influence was also key in other schools, as is the case of the transition to full baroque in Spain. Although born in Westphalia, Rubens grew up in Antwerp, where his family originated. His mother, Maria Pypelincks, was a very important character in his life. She gave him a courtly and cultural education, which included the study of Latin and Greek, as well as the Bible. It was in fact his mother who put him in contact, while still very young, with the best painters of the time. Rubens had three teachers, the first of whom was Tobias Verhaecht, a painter of precise and meticulous technique who had traveled to Italy, and who instilled in the young painter the first artistic rudiments. It is also possible that Rubens traveled to Italy influenced by this first master. The second was Adam van Noort, a Romanist painter also oriented towards the Italian influence, with a language still Mannerist, and who must also have influenced the young man to visit Italy. Finally, his third teacher was Otto van Veen, the most outstanding and the last of them. After his training, Rubens joined the Antwerp painters' guild in 1598. Only two years later he made a trip to Italy, where he stayed between 1600 and 1608.