Product Details

• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Kultur Video
• VHS Release Date: April 28, 2000
• Run Time: 50 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0769770533
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #501,570 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Born in Antwerp in 1577, Peter Paul Rubens' work combined Renaissance technique with a new boldness of approach towards color and brushwork. His mastery at depicting surface texture is seen in his many religious images. Rubens' enduring achievements as a portrait artist make him one of the giants of art history.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hey, Give Some of That Good Luck to Me!, November 2, 2007

By 

Jeffery Mingo (Homewood, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dutch Masters - Rubens (DVD)

Forget about artists dying undiscovered. Forget about them dying of alcoholism or drug overdoses. Don't even think about them being starving and poor. This documentary says Rubens was celebrated, rich, smart, multi-talented. He was a husband and father. The nobility and aristocracy loved him. He lived into his 60s, which was a ripe-old ages in the 1600s. I once read that the Greek playwright Euripedes was handsome, rich, successful, and had longevity. It seems like Rubens was that same type of consistently blessed man too.

Unlike Rembrandt, Rubens collected ancient art and did not go bankrupt. Unlike Vermeer, he was praised while alive and made self-portraits of himself.

So many academics write that, "Identities are in flux." Most of the time that seems like postmodern mumbo-jumbo meant to dismiss salient identities that have consequences in this world and millennium. However, this Dutch painters series consistently brings traits that are not as important now. Each installation states whether an artist was Catholic or Protestant and whether he studied in Italy or not. Nowadays, no one is concerned whether Haring, Basquiate, or Lichtenstien were Protestant or Catholic. It would not be required that an artist be in a cultural center like New York City or Paris to be known. I guess times do change over 400 years.

The work had male and female interviewees; people at British and Dutch universities. They pronounced "Baroque" with a short O, rather than a long one. The work is gushy. For example, the interviewees praise Rubens for a lion he painted. But I would say the lion was unrealistic. It looked more feral than feline. How do we know if a Northern European artist in the 1600s ever saw an actual lion?

This work would be great to show in classroom settings. There is so much religious art here and I think devout Christians would enjoy looking at it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ahhhhh, the masters, May 28, 2009

By 

desertfox (sinaloa, mexico) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Dutch Masters - Rubens (DVD)

I have a small coffee and pastries shop on the beach in Mexico. Always trying to enlighten wherever I go, I play these DVD's in the background for my clients in the dining room. I have many in this series. When the room is filled with Spanish speaking only clients, I turn down the sound and play classical music in the background. When we have English speaking tourists, I use the informative soundtrack usually. They are beautiful, informative & set an ambience for my slightly upscale clients. I would recommend any in this series.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Introduction to a Master Painter, December 19, 2010

By 

drkhimxz (Freehold, NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dutch Masters - Rubens (DVD)

In 50 minutes this Kultur documentary provides an introduction to Peter Paul Rubens, his life and work. Somehow, I thought that the pictures were not quite as numerous nor as well-scrutinized by the camera as with some of the other Masters, but that might be a product of the size and placement of many (or some other reasonable explanation). At any rate, the group of English experts make some good points to reinforce the narrators picture of a man who was not only a painter of great talent, but a man who was a successful diplomat, manager of an artistic enterprise, learned through books and experience, and status mobile.
The pictures do give a good idea of the glowing character of his work and how he interacted with those working in his picture 'factory' to produce paintings of a high order.
To the experienced museum goer, connoisseur, or student of art, there is little to be had from this film, for the general viewer, student interested in art or taking an art course, it can be quite useful.