EPPH - Every Painter Paints Himself

Rubens’ Commander is Rubens

A Rubens was recently sold at Christies described as Portrait of a Commander, three-quarter-length, being dressed for battle though any keen user of this site would recognize the image as Portrait of Rubens as a Commander being painted by two of his assistants (both alter egos of Rubens) in Rubens's mind. It is patently obvious. The solid stillness of the commander resembling a Renaissance portrait contrasts with the lively activity of the two youths, one in light, one in shadow. The boys and commander are on two different levels of reality. The brighter youth holds up a helmet in which the commander’s face is reflected, a symbol for the artist’s inner eye. The lower youth, seemingly adjusting the big man’s belt, is placing his hands on the painting in imitation of an artist at work on a canvas. Not surprisingly, with his blond hair and flowing locks he even resembles Rubens (below right). The commander’s resemblance to the artist is yet more striking (above right). Thus, as ever, this is not a portrait of a commander getting dressed for battle, or even undressed after battle as one scholar suggested, but a portrait of a painter painting himself.

Christies remarked that the commander’s figure seems based on Titian’s famous portrait of the Duke of Urbino which, no surprise again, resembles Titian. Rubens would have known that and understood its meaning. When a great master prepares himself to create a new painting, he gets dressed for battle as a supreme commander.