The Flemish baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens, born on June 28, 1577,diedMay 30, 1640 was the most renowned northern European artist of his day,and and is now widely recognised as one of the foremost painters inWestern art history. By completing the fusion of the realistic traditionof Flemish painting with the imaginative freedom and classical themes ofItalian Renaissance, he fundamentally revitalised and redirected northernEuropean painting.