252 surviving letters from Rubens give us an insight into his life and work as a painter and also as a diplomat. Rubens wrote about his wife Helena only once, without mentioning her name. More personal in style are the messages to his pupil and collaborator Lucas Fayd’herbe; they read like modern-day emails.

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Peter Paul Rubens talks:

Take a look at my self-portrait of 1638; do I look tired? You are right.
Looking back on my travels to Spain or England, I am grateful. Diplomatic negotiations have gone well to the satisfaction of my principals. And I have nowadays regained my peace of mind, since I left all those activities behind me. All I do now, is practise my wonderful profession of painter.

I admit that city life sometimes was too busy for me, as it was for Helena and the children. That’s why I own a house in the countryside. I bought the Manor/Hof van Lanceloot van Ursel, in Ekeren (Schoonbroek district) in 1627. It’s about an hour’s drive away from Antwerp city centre.

And a few years later, on May 12, 1635, I bought an old, knight’s castle at Elewijt (between Mechelen and Vilvoorde) for 93,000 guilders[1]. I didn’t only buy the building itself, called ‘The Stone Manor/Het Steen’, but also the lands and woods around it. Over there, people call me “My Lord”, in two words that is.

[1] Converted about €1,250,000.

Over there, I take time to write letters. The quill is a little more patient than the brush, when I have a gout attack. May I read two fragments to you?

To my good friend Peiresc (on December 18, 1634, in Italian):

“Now, by the grace of God, I am at ease with my wife and children, with no other claim to the world than to live in peace. I decided to get married because I had determined that I was not yet fit for abstinence in celibacy … I chose a young woman from a respectable family, albeit bourgeois, although everyone had advised me to get a noblewoman. But I was anxious about the arrogance, which is the general malady of the aristocracy, especially in that sex; and so I preferred a woman who would not blush when she saw me take my brush.”

More than 10 years ago, on June 5, 1624, I was ennobled by our king Philip IV. A few years later, on July 16, 1631, he made me a ‘knight’; that’s why I have a sword with me in this portrait.

King Charles, in turn, gave me the formal title eques auratus, just say ‘Sir’, on February 21, 1630.

From the Steen, I also wrote to my esteemed collaborator Lucas Fayd’herbe, on August 17, 1638:

Addressed: “To Mons.^r Lucas Fedarbe, at the home of Monsieur Pietro Pauolo Rubens, on the Wapper. Cito, cito, cito, to Antwerp. Post.”
Dear and beloved Lucas,
I hope this will reach you still in Antwerp, because I urgently need a panel with three life-size faces on it, by my hand. .. You’ll do me a great favour by sending the same here at once, or, if you’re ready to come yourself, bringing it with you. …
Mr Lucas,
Your obliging friend,
Pietro Pauolo Rubens
When you leave, make sure that everything is locked up properly; also, that no originals or sketches should remain on the upper storeys of the painter’s quarters. Please remind William, the gardener, that in due course he will send us the [rosile]-pears and the figs if any, or anything else from the garden, that is suitable ….

Route East: walk across the Hopland, past the new building of the visitor centre at the Rubens House, turn left into the Otto Veniusstraat. There is a commemorative plaque at house number 21.

[1] Converted about 1.250.000.