4. The Presentation of Her Portrait to Henry IV 1625

Peter Paul Rubens made *The Presentation of Her Portrait to Henry IV* with oil paint on canvas. Rubens was a master of the medium, and the scale of his paintings is always impressive. Looking closely, it's clear that Rubens employed an assembly line approach in his studio. Apprentices would have laid in the basic composition, perhaps even painting the landscape. Rubens himself probably focused on the figures. Even the king’s shining armor is a tour de force of painting. But consider the sheer labor and resources involved in producing a canvas this size. From grinding and mixing the pigments to stretching the linen supports, many hands were involved. Rubens ran his studio like a well-oiled machine, and this painting demonstrates that the value of the artwork lies not only in the artist's individual genius, but also in his capacity to marshal collective effort. Thinking about *how* it was made helps us understand the painting's full cultural and social context.