Rediscovered Rubens Notebook Page Goes On View For The First Time

A newly acquired double-sided page from Peter Paul Rubens's Roman notebook is now on public view in Antwerp, offering an unusually intimate look at the artist's early working life. Dated September 1607, the sheet combines a drawing of three men in classical robes with a draft letter addressed to Cristoforo Roncalli about a painting for Eleonora de' Medici.

The page went on view May 19 at the Rubens Experience and will remain there until renovations to the Rubenshuis are completed in 2030 at the earliest. The acquisition was made at TEFAF Maastricht by the King Baudouin Foundation for €110,000 ($121,100), bringing a rare early document by Rubens back to Belgium.

The drawing side is thought to include a quill test, while the reverse shows Rubens carefully calibrating his language to Roncalli, a painter senior to him, in an effort to press for progress without causing offense. Eleonora de' Medici, who had commissioned the work for her private chapel, was reportedly growing impatient. The letter reflects Rubens not only as an artist, but as a young man learning how to navigate courtly pressure and professional diplomacy.

Rubens had moved to Rome in 1606 from Mantua and lived near the Spanish Steps with his brother Philip, a lawyer in training. From there, he sketched churches, public squares, and private collections he could access through his brother's connections. Although the figures on the newly acquired sheet do not appear in any known Rubens work, they are believed to be apostles.

The Rubenshuis has called the work an extraordinary addition, noting that it deepens knowledge of Rubens's early creative practice and his international network. It also adds to the institution's small holdings of the artist's drawings and letters, most of which date from a later period. In that sense, the page is more than a document: it is a record of Rubens becoming Rubens.

PeterPaulRubens Rubenshuis Antwerp ArtHistory TEFAF MuseumExhibition

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