| Preface | ix |
| List of Illustrations | xi |
| Introduction | 1 |
I. | Rubens and the Question of Beauty | |
1. | The True Opposites of Evil and the Demonic: Prelude | 9 |
2. | The Artist Meets the Prince | 10 |
3. | The Landscape of the Portrait | 15 |
4. | Publishers, the Word and Censorship | 21 |
5. | Musicians and the Flemish Renaissance | 26 |
6. | Painters and the Discovery of Natural Lighting | 28 |
7. | Light and Mannerism | 31 |
8. | Massys, Mor, Bruegel and the New Tradition | 33 |
9. | Poetry and Painting | 37 |
10. | History and Painting | 39 |
11. | Sizes and Theatres | 41 |
12. | Political Festivals, Masques and the Bliss of Illusion | 45 |
13. | Two Weddings and the Signs of Revolution | 48 |
14. | Family History | 53 |
15. | The Menace of the Reformation | 58 |
16. | The Profanation of Art | 62 |
17. | Philip II and the Revolt in the Netherlands | 65 |
18. | The Flight to Germany | 69 |
19. | Refuge in Cologne | 73 |
20. | Disappearance and Compassion | 77 |
21. | Release and the Tragedy of Anna von Saxon | 79 |
22. | Birth and the Months at Siegen | 83 |
23. | Beginnings in Cologne | 86 |
24. | 'The Common Calamity' | 91 |
25. | The Ongoing Violence | 93 |
26. | The Slaughter at Mons and Mechelen | 94 |
27. | The Spanish Mutiny | 96 |
28. | The Role of Don Juan | 98 |
29. | The Spanish Fury | 100 |
30. | Don Juan's Misjudgements | 102 |
31. | Artists and the War | 104 |
32. | The Death of Don Juan | 107 |
33. | Alexander of Parma and the Great Betrayal | 109 |
34. | The Theatrical Soldier | 110 |
35. | Coups de grace | 111 |
36. | The Family Returns to Antwerp | 114 |
37. | Life as a Court Page | 118 |
38. | The Apprentice Years | 120 |
39. | The First Three Masterpieces | 124 |
II. | The Idea of Absolute Beauty | |
40. | Journey to Venice | 131 |
41. | The 'Heavenly Shew upon the Water' | 133 |
42. | The City of Virgil, Mantegna and Giulio Romano | 136 |
43. | The Wedding in Florence | 140 |
44. | Copying as Innovation | 141 |
45. | From Mantua to Rome | 147 |
46. | The Roman Experience | 150 |
47. | The New Aesthetic | 155 |
48. | The New Sensuality | 158 |
49. | The First Roman Commission | 159 |
50. | Excursions through Italy | 166 |
51. | Off to Spain | 169 |
52. | Spies and a Sea Voyage | 173 |
53. | Disaster and Ghost-Painting | 176 |
54. | The 'Poison Reason Drinks' | 181 |
55. | The Revolutionary Portrait | 186 |
56. | Mantua, Friendships and Galileo | 190 |
57. | Stock-Taking in his late Twenties | 192 |
58. | Rubens and the History of Ideas | 195 |
59. | The Second Stay in Rome | 197 |
60. | Getting Rid of 'the Smell of the Stone' | 202 |
61. | Early Fame and a Journey to Genoa | 206 |
62. | Rejection and a Summons Home | 208 |
III. | Beauty Human and Superhuman | |
63. | Grief and New Beginnings | 213 |
64. | 'The Hand of the Artist' | 219 |
65. | The Creation of Aliveness | 222 |
66. | The Apprehension of Beauty | 227 |
67. | The Pacts for Beauty | 230 |
68. | Studio Life | 233 |
69. | The 'Lover of Antiquities' | 238 |
70. | Jealousy, War and the Engraving Business | 243 |
IV. | Kings, Queens, Ministers and the Angelic | |
71. | Large Works and the Atmosphere of Creation | 253 |
72. | The Medici Invitation | 257 |
73. | 'The Theme Is so Vast and so Magnificent' | 259 |
74. | Science and Art Amid the Ruins | 263 |
75. | The Triumph of Political Theatre | 265 |
76. | The English Experiment | 273 |
77. | The Artist Meets the King | 282 |
78. | Securing the Pact for Peace | 285 |
79. | A Previous Engagement | 290 |
80. | A Marriage of Politics and Art | 294 |
81. | The Fantasy of Peace and War | 296 |
V. | Rubens and Sensuality | |
82. | Toward a New Optics | 301 |
83. | Mission Cancelled and a Second Marriage | 303 |
84. | New Life, New Beauty | 306 |
85. | Promoting War | 310 |
86. | Beauty, Evil and the Whitehall Pictures | 313 |
87. | Festivals of Love | 321 |
88. | Ferdinand's Joyous Entry | 326 |
89. | The Second Golden Apple | 329 |
90. | Living out of Town | 331 |
91. | 'The Unfortunate Europe' | 336 |
92. | Painting Beauty Bare | 339 |
93. | The Chance to Do 'Something Extraordinary' | 343 |
VI. | Apotheosis: Beauty and Physics | |
| Beauty and Physics | 351 |
| Notes | 355 |
| Select Bibliography | 389 |
| Index | 399 |