Mattia Biffis: Precarious movements: Rubens and the hazards of mobility

Foredrag med Mattia Biffis "Precarious movements: Rubens and the hazards of mobility"

Living in a period of increasing mobility of men and objects, Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) was a painter thoroughly dependent on the politics and practices of delivery. From his native Antwerp, the Flemish artist was able to maintain familiar relationships with a ramified network of friends, patrons, and humanists, extending as far as Italy, Spain, France, and Britain. Reduced to standardized volumes of manageable size, his paintings moved efficiently along the delivery lines that crossed the physically divided and politically turbulent landscape of 17th century Europe. Yet, as highly mobile works, Rubens’ paintings were also exposed to the unpredictability of circulation – meaning that his works could get substantially altered when in transit, with the risk of being perceptually compromised by transportation and losing important eidetic information. This paper will offer a critical overview of the strategies adopted…