Héraclite et Démocrite

In the spring of 1603 Rubens was 25 and not yet famous, travelling to Spain as a courier for the Duke of Mantua, escorting a cartload of paintings meant as gifts for the Spanish court. Rain got into the crates on the road and ruined several canvases. Rubens, stuck in Valladolid, simply painted replacements himself, and this pairing of two Greek thinkers was among them. On the left Heraclitus, the philosopher who wept at the folly of the world, rests his head on his hand. On the right Democritus laughs at the same folly. Between them sits a globe, the one thing they both judge, so differently. It is among the earliest works Rubens made on Spanish soil, months before anyone there knew his name.