Painter, collector, diplomat, linguist and scholar, Rubens was one of the most successful and influential artists of all time. Internationally renowned and revered in his day, his immensely varied output is all too often eclipsed by his reputation as the painter par excellence of the voluptuous nude. However, this master of Baroque theatricality was acclaimed for his powerful religious altarpieces and his large-scale commissions for the courts of Europe, and could also turn his hand to small, privately executed landscapes and intimate portraits of family and friends. Putting into context Rubens's absolutist politics and Catholic rhetoric, Lawson reveals how his painterly style and profound understanding of color, rhythm, scale and space have transcended his own times and circumstances. Anyone at all interested in painting cannot afford to overlook his legacy and Lawson suggests that the time is ripe for a fresh look at this Old Master.