Master of Shadows

August 1, 2009
Biography of Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), influential painter, diplomat and sometime spy whose foremost goals were to avert war and return his beloved Antwerp to glory.

With a map, chronology, list of principal players and a mostly lucid prose style, freelance journalist Lamster (Spalding's World Tour: The Epic Adventure that Took Baseball Around the Globe—and Made it America's Game, 2006) does much to simplify a tangled story of monarchs, aristocrats, diplomats, international alliances, poets, painters, wives and colleagues. The author charts Rubens's quick rise to artistic prominence, pausing only occasionally to discuss a particular work. Lamster notes that it was not just Rubens's artistic gifts that suited him for diplomatic service. He was polyglot (fluent in a half-dozen languages), tall and handsome, charismatic, highly organized, moderate and circumspect. He was also a loyal husband and devoted father. As a popular painter traveling to foreign courts, he was uniquely positioned to eavesdrop and, eventually, carry dispatches and proposals and advocate official policy. The politics of the day involved—no surprise—the quest for global power, and the great seafaring states of Western Europe (France, England and Spain, with occasional forays by the Italians and Danes) were maneuvering constantly to improve their relative positions. The rising Lowlands were divided into two large entities, which, for convenience's sake, the author calls Holland (in the north) and Flanders (in the south, under the control of Spain). Antwerp lay south, so Rubens represented the Spanish in a number of diplomatic missions—some successful, some not; some covert, some not—to England, France and elsewhere.

Though sometimes eye-glazingly complex, Rubens's story surprises and dazzles.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from November 15, 2009
This book relates the exceptionally active diplomatic career of acclaimed painter Peter Paul Rubens (15771640). It's a story unknown to most readers, even admirers of Rubens's work. Serving the kings of Spain but also the archduke and archduchess who governed the Spanish Netherlands, Rubens crisscrossed Europe for over 25 years, negotiating treaties and seeking accommodations among Europe's sovereigns. Though in the top ranks of the Flemish bourgeoisie, Rubens was still only a commoner. That he was tapped to lead these diplomatic efforts testifies to his standing as both an artist and a man of personal qualities. His network of friends and correspondents put him in a unique position, but in the end, his efforts failed, swallowed up in the deluge of destruction of the Thirty Years' War. Lamster explains all this without simplifying the labyrinthine politics of this tumultuous age. An added benefit is his appreciation of, and ease in explaining, the complex iconography and artistic values exposed to view in Rubens's great artworks. VERDICT An exceptional book that should appeal to history lovers and art lovers alike.David Keymer, Modesto, CA

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.