Self-portrait

In 1623 Rubens was 45 and already the most sought-after painter in Europe, but painting was only half of what he did. He also worked as a diplomat for the Spanish Netherlands, carrying messages between the courts of Europe, and that is the man you see here. There are no brushes, no palette, nothing of the studio. He wears full court dress with a wide black hat and a sword, presenting himself as a gentleman of Antwerp rather than a tradesman who works with his hands. He made two versions of this likeness that year. The other, on a wood panel, was sent across the Channel because Charles, the Prince of Wales and future king of England, had asked for it. Rubens was courting that court on purpose, and within a few years the English crown would hand him the ceiling of the Banqueting House at Whitehall. The gallery in Canberra bought this canvas in 1983.