Rubens: Mediator for the Peace

Selfportrait, 1639

When thinking about Rubens, fat women, fantastic portraits, religious scenes and ancient gods come to mind, but he wasn’t only an artist, but also a diplomat that used to be in his element while in the European Courts. 

Equestrian Portrait of
Duke of Lerma, 1600

He knew several languages (Latin, German, Spanish, Italian, French, English…), he was quite wise, keen on the classical antiquity and had a noble kind of behaviour.

His first mission was when he was 23 years old: the Duke of Mantua sent him as ambassador to Spain. Who else would he send when Rubens was catholic and originary from Flanders? He meets the Court in Valladolid, but the Italian ambassador 'forgets' to introduce him to the King Philip III. However, he'd use this trip to Spain to get his first contacts, such as the Duke of Lerma, who Rubens painted a portrait of.

Archduchess Isabella,
1609

His fame would increase every time and once back home, he’d be named painter of the Court by the archdukes Albert and Isabella, Philip II’s daughter.

Due to the constant wars in Netherlands and trying to achieve peace, Isabella orders Rubens to play the role of the diplomat in charge of the relations with the Spanish and English Courts. After the Siege of Breda in 1625, it was likely to achieve peace through an alliance between Spain and England against France, who secretly was collaborating with the Dutch.

In the beginning, he’d get by with his familiar and professional relationships, secretly moving in between Brussels and The Hague. Through his cousin’s first wife, Jan Brant, he gets to talk to Philip IV, who accepts a meeting between the parties. 

Equestrian Portrait of Phillip IV, 1628

Rubens travels to Madrid in 1628 using painting a portrait of the King as an excuse, and while painting it, he grows more and more convinced about the alliance actually being formed. He contacts Balthasar Gerbier, painter and diplomat under the commands of the duke of Buckingham, who he had met in Paris, and meets him secretly in Utrecht to prepare the negotiations with Charles I of England.

van Dyck, Charles I of England, 1635

He crossed the English Channel on an English boat in order not to create suspicion; in 1630 he was already in London working as official ambassador with the title of “Secretario del Consejo Secreto de los Países Bajos”. He convinces the English King to create the alliance and on 5th March 1630, the Tratado de Madrid was signed by Carlos Coloma, Spanish ambassador in London and Francis Cottington, representantive of the English King. For his services, Rubens received the Sir title from Charles I and the ‘Caballero’ title from Philip IV. 

Rubens later gifted Charles I his painting “Allegory on the Blessing of Peace”.

Allegory on the Blessing of Peace, 1629

However, Rubens wasn’t satisfy with the final outcome. He disliked the way Spain negotiated. In his correspondence we can see how he only wanted to achieve peace between all the European nations. But he’d see how all his efforts were made in vain: Spain signed an alliance with France, afraid England could invade them. Peace with Netherlands would be achieved in 1648, 8 years after Ruben’s death.

Kaulbach, H.-M-, Peter Paul Rubens: Diplomat und Maler des Friedens. Münster, 1998;

Lamster, M., Master of Shadows: the secret diplomatic career of the painter Peter Paul Rubens, New York, Anchor, 2010;

Néret, G. Rubens, Köln, Taschen, 2006