Rubens, the book lover

Rubens’s private library was one of the largest in all of Antwerp. For Rubens, books were a source of knowledge and inspiration, but they also provided guidance and influenced his choices, both on the private and professional levels. While painting, he even had people read the works of well-known classical authors to him, a bit like listening to a podcast. 

So how do we know what Rubens liked to read? His letters to friends, among others, reveal his interest in current affairs, architecture, science and politics, which makes sense because he was hell-bent on keeping up with the latest developments in these areas of interest. He often discussed books in his letters to friends abroad or they helped each other track down rare editions. 

Rubens even asked them to send him controversial books on ‘heresy’. He clearly took a keen interest in current affairs. Around 1620, he managed to lay hands on a copy of the manifesto of the Amsterdam Rosicrucians, a secret book that had been blacklisted by the Catholic rulers.

To be sure he was 100% correct when ‘telling’ classical stories in his paintings, Rubens collected books by ancient Roman and Greek authors such as Virgil and Ovid. He developed visual ideas based on their texts. Interestingly, Rubens ordered the books in the original language to avoid the risk of translation errors. He even taught himself Greek with the help of a dictionary.  

Rubens shared his passion for ancient Roman and Greek authors with his son Albert. The latter regularly dipped into his father’s extensive library. At the age of 13, Albert even wrote a poem about Roman coins that was published, making him the city’s youngest poet. 

Heads of emperors, processions, temples and triumphs,

Were once immortalised in metal

When Rome, mother city of men and gods,

Was still governed by ancient laws.

Voracious time threatens all that is hidden

In the darkness of the earth.

Rubens’s book orders and requests to bookbinders at the Plantin printing works also confirm his broad interest. From scientific works to encyclopaedias of natural history. When a new edition was published, it swiftly found its way onto his bookshelves. In some cases because he was intrigued, other times in preparation for specific artistic commissions.  Imagine having to paint a hunting scene, the legs of a hippopotamus legs or a great spotted woodpecker and having to get all the details right. He relied on the encyclopaedia of Aldrovandi, an Italian physicist, for the right food, anatomical challenges or the colours of plumage.

Rubens ordered every possible history book and travel journal to correctly depict historical scenes, such as Henry IV at the Battle of Ivry. He also had a subscription to the French magazine Mercure François, the forerunner of the modern newspaper, to prepare for his diplomatic missions. But not everything revolved around his own work. He also bought the books of writing friends such as Justus Lipsius, Aubert Le Mire, and Jean-Jacques Chifflet.  

Rubens’s private library was impressive. It was like his own internet on paper, which he used daily. Soon Rubens needed a place to store his books, given that he kept adding new tomes to his collection. At the end of his life, his books were even displayed in a separate cottage in present-day Hopland, where the new library of the Rubenshuis can be found today.