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Detail uit de Kunstkamer van Cornelis van der Geest

The celebrity

The most sought out painter of Europe.

Rubens was a global superstar who received kings and princesses, statesmen and diplomats in his home. The Archdukes Albert and Isabella visited him, as well as Maria de' Medici, the Duke of Buckingham and the Spanish Cardinal-Infante.

Today Rubens is probably Antwerp's most famous inhabitants ever. But it was no different during his lifetime. In Rubens's time, there were also several honours or titles for achievements. At the time, these honours were much more important than they are today. Rubens received several of them, which confirm his status as a global superstar in seventeenth-century Europe.

 

Rubens's honours or titles for achievements

  • 1624
    The Spanish King Philip IV awards Rubens a peerage.
     
  • 1625
    Rubens belongs to the highest echelons of society as is apparent from his presence at the marriage of the English King Charles I with Henrietta Maria, Maria de' Medici's daughter, in Paris. In July, the Archduchess Isabella visited the house and studio of Rubens. In November he welcomed the Duke of Buckingham.
     
  • 1630
    The English King Charles I knights Rubens.
     
  • 1631
    The Spanish King Philip IV knights Rubens and in September Maria de' Medici visits Rubens's house in Antwerp. In December Rubens travels to the United Provinces. Prince Frederick Henry receives him in The Hague.
     
  • 1633
    Rubens is made an honorary deacon of St. Luke's guild.
     
  • 1637
    Following in the footsteps of many other eminent personalities, the Cardinal-Infante also visits the house and studio of Rubens in Antwerp.
     
  • 1639
    King Charles I of Britain presents Rubens with a heavy gold chain. Prince Frederick Henry of Orange commissions a work from him to hang over a fireplace.
     
  • 1640
    Rubens is appointed an honorary member of the Accademia di San Luca in Rome.