This is a famous sketch from the National Gallery.
I am always blown away by his mastery of color and the fluidity of his brushstrokes.
This is a beautiful oil sketch which was formerly owned by Sir Robert Peel, former PM. Rubens created oil sketches as a preparatory study for the composition. Once it was approved, Rubens handed the sketch to his studio assistants. They would use it as an exact, scaled guide to transfer the complex, swirling mass of bodies onto a giant canvas before the final, full-color layers were applied by Rubens himself.
In this sketch, the hunters become hunted in a chaotic bloodbath. The terrifying muscular dynamism of the horses, lions and indeed humans is terrific. He has been revered for centuries, mostly for his raw muscular power combined with a delicate luminous beauty. He engineered theatrical experiences.
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Probably influenced by Leonardo da Vinci’s The Battle of Anghiari. Rubens not only studied it, but retouched it (having owned it):
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