child and rubens wished for a quieter less strenuous life. he continued to manage his studio and antwerp but he began devoting more time to his personal interests and turned to landscape painting. this scene of a thunderstorm was executed soley for his own pleasure. the striking painting is seen here undergoing restoration in the workshop of vienna's to store a museum. the passing of almost four hundred years has taken a toll on rubens surviving paintings. many have temporarily disappeared from public