 Born in Antwerp in 1577, the young Peter Paul Rubens traveled extensively in Italy, soaking up the artistic achievements of the High Renaissance, and slowly becoming one of the most important Flemish painter of the 17th century. Returning to Flanders, he began a career that combined Renaissance technique with a new boldness of approach towards color and brushwork. His mastery at depicting surface texture can be seen in his religious images commissioned by the Catholic church. But Rubens was undoubtedly a man of the world, a charming individual who worked as a diplomat and whose connections resulted in a great number of portrait commissions. It is these portraits that are, perhaps, the most enduring achievements of a giant of art history.