Rubens House

Rubens House Museum, also known as the author's workshop and a place to meet friends. It is difficult to overestimate the contribution of this great master to the painting and culture of the whole world. Visits to his house-museum of Rubens will be interesting not only to connoisseurs and admirers of his talent, but also to almost everyone who loves beauty and harmony.

Home

Rubens bought the house and the land next to it in 1610. By that time, he had already been married to his first wife Isabella for 2 years. It was decided to rebuild and expand the house, but some parts of it have remained unchanged since that time.

It is best to start the tour from a small patio, the master created it inspired by Italy. There are graceful arches and stone-paved paths, as well as sculptures that he made with his own hands. The patio is connected to a small cozy garden.

Further, guests enter the living room of the house-museum, right at the entrance there are two engravings, it was from them that restaurateurs repelled while working on restoring the house. Behind the living room is the dining room, its walls are decorated with paintings by Rubens, portraits and still lifes predominate among them. Here is a portrait of the second wife of a genius - Elena. The second time he married when he was 52 years old, the first wife died of illness at a young age, the second wife was just as young. Elena became a real muse for her husband, her features are guessed in the female images of many of his works.

The next room is a gallery, here, in addition to paintings, there are other art objects, such as statues. In the artist's studio, talented authors worked with him, whose works are located right there. There is a special place next to the art gallery - the pantheon, where sculptures predominate, but there are other objects that deserve the attention of the public. The Pantheon is also the work of Rubens, he himself built this room and was engaged in its arrangement.

The main room in the house is the artist's studio; life was always in full swing here under the master, active work was carried out, most often on several paintings at once. Rubens supervised everything, kept in mind all the little things, details and features of each project. The disciples implicitly obeyed his word.

Museum

After the death of Rubens, his house was sold and he changed owners quite often, along with them, parts of the furnishings, paintings and furniture were lost. At the beginning of the 20th century, the city administration acquired the house in order to organize a museum. For this, a lot of work has been done. According to ancient engravings, the interior decoration was recreated. Furniture and household items were selected based on the time when the master lived in the house.

The museum was opened in 1946, unfortunately, most of the collection made by Rubens is almost always exhibited in the most famous galleries in the world, but it does not happen in his house, but there is something to see without it.