Peter Paul Rubens

Peter Paul Rubens was born in Siegen in Germany to exiles from Antwerp and trained in Antwerp before spending eight years in Italy studying Titian, Michelangelo and ancient sculpture. Back home he ran a large workshop that produced altarpieces, myths, hunts and portraits for courts across Europe, full of movement, colour and flesh. He was also a diplomat, knighted by Philip IV of Spain and by Charles I of England, for whom he painted the Banqueting House ceiling in Whitehall.