Aankomst van Odysseus en metgezellen bij Circe 1587 - 1640

This watercolor and gouache painting, depicting The Arrival of Odysseus and his Companions at Circe, was created by Peter Paul Rubens. The translucent washes of watercolor allow the preparatory drawing beneath to show through. This gives the work an immediacy, allowing us to follow the artist’s thought processes. The more opaque gouache enables Rubens to build up highlights and shadows, creating dramatic contrasts and imbuing the scene with movement and energy. Rubens was not only a painter but also a diplomat, and he ran a large workshop. Assistants would have prepared his panels and canvases, and also worked on the underpainting of major commissions. Therefore, a work like this one allowed him to explore his ideas in a direct and relatively rapid manner. Considered in this light, even a mythological subject like this one gives us insight into the social structures that enabled the creation of art in Rubens’s time. Understanding the means of production is key to understanding the art itself.