Peter Paul Rubens' creative genius, as expressed with consummate mastery in his paintings, is but one of the many elements that have compounded to establish his fame. He is also renowned as a man of immense erudition. Indeed, his reputation is such that it is taken for granted that his great learning informed all aspects of his art in a fundamental way. / In accordance with this kind of thinking, current scholarship on Rubens accepts, as a matter of course, that the artist, whilst creating his painted works, followed the dictates of a colour theory, as we would know it today. In fact, on the basis of circumstantial evidence, it has been accepted that Rubens invented a colour theory that may be seen as innovative for his time. / This thesis assesses the evidence which has led researchers to formulate such a conclusion. As a consequence, it investigates the circumstances of Rubens association with Francois de Aguilon during the final stages of the latter's publication of his book on optics, the Opticorum libri sex. ... As well, the artist's correspondence with his friend, Nicolas Fabri de Peiresc, which contains allusions to an autograph manuscript purported to contain Rubens' thoughts on colour, is re-examined. Indeed, this very correspondence reveals that Rubens did not consider himself particularly knowledgeable about the theoretical aspects colour. / On the basis of a thorough review of these existing documents; an investigation into relevant biographical circumstances; and an examination of the artist's technique, it is here proposed that Rubens did not consciously apply theoretical principles to his craft, but rather, that any of the discernable elements of what is considered to be modern colour theory are in the paintings only because the demands of the painter's craft serendipitously parallel art historians' theoretical hindsight.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.28850 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | Meyer, Rüdiger |
| Contributors | Glen, T. L. (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Art History.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001461968, proquestno: NN05758, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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