Event: Belgium - Antwerp

Rubens' House

When:	Daily; not Mon
Where:	Rubenshuis
Costs:	€6; concessions €4; under 19s and over 65s free
Opening Hours:	Tue-Sun 10am-5pm

Rubenshuis is Rubens' former palazzo in the centre of Antwerp. The life of the great Baroque painter unfolds before visitors' eyes and enables them to discover his multifaceted abilities as painter, architect, diplomat, collector and scientist.

Some of Rubens' most important works are on show, from his early Adam and Eve to the Annunciation. One of the most interesting is The Battle of Ivry, an unfinished work. Visitors can imagine the genius at work, trying to decide where to place the soldiers he was working on. As a result, one of them in the middle of the painting has been left with three arms, an interesting piece of trivia to impress your friends with.

Not content with the extent of his own talent, Rubens was also an avid art collector. Collecting art was a popular pastime among wealthy burghers at the time and his private collection grew into one of the largest and most attractive in Antwerp. He was interested in the works of his great models and sources of inspiration, Titian, Tintoretto and Vernonese, and his collection includes his Flemish predecessors and German masters such as Holbein and Elsheimer.