Epitaph Jan Rubens by Maria Pypelinckx in Cologne 1587

Jan Rubens (1530–1587) was a Flemish magistrate of Antwerp, best known today as the father of

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradit ...

Family

Rubens was born in Antwerp to an old merchant family.Jan Rubens in the

NNBW The ''Nieuw Nederlandsch Biografisch Woordenboek'' (''NNBW'') is a biographical reference work in the Dutch language. It has been succeeded by the ''Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland''. It was published in ten parts between 1911 and 1937 by ...

He was trained as a scholar and travelled to Italy where he received his diploma in Canon law in Rome in 1550. He returned north in 1557 and set up his practise in Antwerp where he married

Maria Pypelinckx Maria Pypelinckx (20 March 1538 – 19 October 1608) was a writer from the Southern Netherlands, best known today as the mother of the painter Peter Paul Rubens. Early life Pypelinckx was born in Kuringen, now a part of Hasselt, as the daughter ...

in 1558. On 7 May 1562 he became magistrate of Antwerp and served until 1568, when he fled to Cologne with his family, probably to avoid the

Council of Troubles The Council of Troubles (usual English translation of nl, Raad van Beroerten, or es, Tribunal de los Tumultos, or french: Conseil des Troubles) was the special tribunal instituted on 9 September 1567 by Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of ...

. His position and that of his fellow magistrates became precarious when the

Duke of Alva Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

came north to suppress the rebellion after the

Beeldenstorm ''Beeldenstorm'' () in Dutch and ''Bildersturm'' in German (roughly translatable from both languages as 'attack on the images or statues') are terms used for outbreaks of destruction of religious images that occurred in Europe in the 16th centu ...

Johann VI, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg Count John VI of Nassau-Dillenburg (22 November 1536 – 8 October 1606) was the second son of William the Rich and the younger brother of William the Silent. He has a special place in the history of the Netherlands because he is the male-lin ...

. In Cologne he could renew his work as a lawyer, because there were many Dutch refugees there who wanted to recover seized property they had left behind. He began to work as an advisor to

Anna of Saxony Anna of Saxony (23 December 1544 – 18 December 1577) was the heiress of Maurice, Elector of Saxony, and Agnes, eldest daughter of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. Maurice's only son, Albert, died in infancy. Anna was the second wife of William th ...

and they had an affair at her home in

Siegen Siegen () is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg region. The university town (nearly 20,000 students in the 2018–2019 winter semeste ...

. By the time it was discovered, she was pregnant and Rubens was arrested during a trip he took to Siegen to visit her and he was locked up in the Nassau family's castle at

Dillenburg Dillenburg, officially Oranienstadt Dillenburg, is a town in Hesse's Gießen region in Germany. The town was formerly the seat of the old Dillkreis district, which is now part of the Lahn-Dill-Kreis. The town lies on the German-Dutch holiday road ...

in March, 1571. His wife, who knew nothing of the affair, came to support him after he wrote to tell her he feared he would be executed. She supported him throughout his imprisonment. Thanks to her letters, Rubens was allowed to join his family in Siegen on condition of payment of 6,000 daalders bail, but he was not allowed out of Siegen or do any business work until the death of Anna of Saxony in Dresden on 18 December 1577. His illegitimate daughter with

, Christina van Diez, was born 22 August 1571. In 1574 his first son with

, Philip Rubens was born. Three years later, in 1577

was born. Jan Rubens died in 1587 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. His wife wrote an epitaph in Latin that was installed on his gravestone in the St. Peter's church there. After the burial she took her children back to Antwerp where she stayed.

Literature

* Femke Deen: ''Anna van Saksen. Verstoten bruid van Willem van Oranje''. Atlas Contact, Amsterdam 2018. . * Ingrun Mann: ''Anna of Saxony. The Scarlet Lady of Orange''. Winged Hussar Publishing, Point Pleasant, New Jersey 2016. . * Rosine De Dijn: ''Liebe, Last und Leidenschaft. Frauen im Leben von Rubens.'' DVA, Stuttgart und München 2002. (Covers both Jan ''and'' Peter Paul Rubens.) * Hans-Joachim Böttcher: ''Anna Prinzessin von Sachsen 1544–1577 – Eine Lebenstragödie'', Dresden 2013, .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubens, Jan 1530 births 1587 deaths People from Antwerp Ja