Instead of making copies of statues, Rubens made works that imagined the statues as living models, creating works that seem to have been done from life.
sixteen eighteen he wrote to an english collector who had declined his studio works and insisted that only the master s hand would do your excellent c. must not think that the others are mere copies for they are so well re touched by my hand that they are hardly to be distinguished from originals. you can compare rubens studio to a modern day fashion house or architect this. an architect likes or norman foster doesn t draw every individual door handle. nor does a fashion designer like karl lagerfeld so every sleeve himself. from his studio in antwerp rubens exported his works to the world and he maintained good relations with his clients whether they were catholic or protestant. german