The Rubens House > Collection > Virtual guided tour > Ground floor rooms > Antechamber (9) > Palazzi di Genova
Palazzi di Genova
In this time, Rubens was not only considered a scholarly painter, but also a lover and connoisseur of antique and contemporary Italian architecture.
This reputation was based in part on the Palazzi di Genova, a model book featuring facades, cross-sections and maps of Renaissance palaces and villas from the Italian port of Genoa. In the introduction Rubens explains the purpose behind the work, concluding with satisfaction that Gothic architecture – a ‘barbaric’ style in his view – had become unfashionable in his homeland and that classical architecture was now making a comeback. With the publication of the Palazzi he hoped to contribute to this development. The Genoese villas and palaces could serve as models for contemporary houses in Antwerp and other towns of the Southern Netherlands.
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
Palazzi di Genova
Antwerp, 1622