Hercules Crowned by Genii 1621

Peter Paul Rubens made this drawing called 'Hercules Crowned by Genii' sometime between 1600 and 1640 using pen and brown ink with wash and heightened with white. Rubens’s image draws from classical mythology, showing Hercules, the embodiment of strength and virtue, receiving a laurel wreath from divine spirits. This reflects the era's fascination with antiquity, but also the politics of imagery. In 17th-century Europe, art was used to bolster the power of the aristocracy and the church, as well as reinforce social norms. Rubens, working in the Catholic, Habsburg-controlled Flanders, was influenced by the baroque style and often celebrated authority and tradition in his images. To fully appreciate the social conditions that shaped Rubens's artistic production, we might consult the vast archival resources such as letters and inventories. In doing so we can understand the institutional context that framed the meanings of his art in his own time.