鲁本斯(1577～1640年)
Rubens, Peter Paul
法兰德斯画家和外交官。在安特卫普当学徒之後，1598年为画家协会承认。1600年前往义大利。1608年前为曼图亚公爵工作。1603年，公爵派他到西班牙向腓力三世展示绘画和其他才能，是他後来三十年替不同国家完成的诸多外交任务中的首件。他获得的巨大声名使他在皇室很受欢迎。君主们经常在站立请他画肖像的时候和他谈论国家大事。1608年他回到西属荷兰（现在的比利时），他被委任为西班牙哈布斯堡摄政王的宫廷画家。接下来的十年他画了许多祭祀画。身为虔诚的天主教徒，他成为北欧反对改革的主要艺术支持者。1620年他签下合约为耶稣教堂设计三十九幅天顶画，由他的助手完成，包括年轻的范戴克。他在法国为玛丽.德.麦迪奇画了二十一幅油画，为路易十三世画了织锦画系列。他为英国画的《和平和战争的寓言》（1629～1630）则纪念他为结束英国和西班牙的敌意所作的成功外交。他为查理一世的皇家宴会厅做装饰。在西班牙他为腓力四世的狩猎行宫画了六十多幅油画草图。查尔斯和菲利浦都授予他爵位。他的作品产出量颇大。他的风格是佛兰德现实主义、义大利复兴古典主义和他自己令人惊骇的创造力的融合。其油画中丰满的人物产生活泼、动态成分的运动渗透感。他的风格产生的深远影响延续了三个世纪。
English version：
1577～1640年
Rubens, Peter Paul
Flemish painter and diplomat. After apprenticeships in Antwerp, he was admitted to its painters' guild in 1598. He went to Italy in 1600 and until 1608 worked for the duke of Mantua, who in 1603 sent him to Spain to present paintings and other gifts to Philip III, the first of many diplomatic missions he would perform for various courts over three decades. The enormous fame he would achieve made him welcome at royal courts, and sovereigns often discussed affairs of state while they sat for portraits. Returning to the Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium) in 1608, he was appointed court painter to the Spanish Habsburg regents, and over the next decade produced numerous altarpieces. A devout Catholic, he became the Counter-Reformation's chief artistic proponent in northern Europe. In 1620 he contracted to design 39 ceiling paintings for the Jesuit church, to be completed by assistants, including the young Anthony Van Dyck. In France he did 21 large canvases for Marie de Médicis and a tapestry cycle for Louis XIII; for Britain his Allegory of Peace and War (1629-30) commemorated the success of his own diplomatic efforts to end hostilities between Britain and Spain, and he decorated the royal Banqueting House for Charles I; in Spain he did more than 60 oil sketches for Philip IV's hunting lodge. Both Charles and Philip knighted him. His output was prodigious. His style was a fusion of Flemish realism, Italian Renaissance classicism, and his own astounding invention. The opulent figures in his paintings generate a pervasive sense of movement in vivid, dynamic compositions. His profound stylistic influence extended over three centuries.