The prodigious story of a controversial and genius artist
These
days, nobody takes Rubens seriously. His vast and grandiose canvases, stuffed
with wobbly mounds of female flesh, have little appeal for the modern gym-subscriber.
And it’s not just the bulging nudity we don’t like. The entire tone of Rubens’s
art offends us. Everything in it is too big – the epic dramas full of tragedy,
the fantastical celestial scenery, the immense canvases and murals adorning the
walls and ceilings of Europe’s grandest Palaces. All of it seems too much for
modern sensibilities.
But Waldemar Januszczak begs to differ. In Waldemar’s eyes, Rubens has been traduced by modern tastes, and a huge misunderstanding of him has taken place. By looking in detail at Rubens’s fascinating life, by understanding his art in more enlightened ways, Waldemar will set out to correct the extra-large misconceptions that have arisen about Rubens.
