The compact and appreciative biography of Rubens, Painter and Diplomat,
by Professor Einile Cammaerts (Faber, 15s.) should revive interest in that very remarkable Fleming. The big religious and decorative compositions to which Rubens devoted much of his artistic life seem rather tiresome to modern eyes, and there is a tendency to underrate the painter. One needs to realize, with the author, that Rubens was a leading exponent in art of the Catholic Counter-Reformation, which recovered the Southern Netherlands for Rome, and that he devoted his immense talent largely to the Seri-ice of his religion. His secular work abounds in the materialism characteristic of Flanders, but it-is never gross.- I:Whew-was always the scholar and the gentleman, never grotesque like Breughel nor coarse like Jordaens and others. Professor Cammaerts has wisely sought to picture Rubens'. 'career as a whole and to remind us that he was a skilled diplomatist in the Spanish service, and a leadingAitizen of Antwerp, as well as a great painter. His visit to Angland; in 1629-30 gained him the friendship of Charles I and the English court and brought about peace with Spain at a critical moment. Rubens' philosophic and witty letters are freely quoted and a number of his pictures are reproduced in this attractive book.
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