Sir Peter Paul Rubens (June 28 1577 – May 30 1640) was one of the most famous artists of 17th-century Europe, and a proponent of an exuberant Baroque style that emphasised movement, colour and sensuality.

Rubens was enormously successful, prolific and versatile, his huge output embracing virtually every genre of painting then practised, as well as various types of design work. Also a scholar, collector and diplomat, he was knighted by both Philip IV of Spain and Charles I of England.
 
Born in Germany to Flemish parents, Rubens trained in Antwerp, but his style and his artistic outlook were largely formed in Italy, where he was based from 1600 to 1608. When he returned to Antwerp, he already had a considerable reputation, and this was underlined in 1609 when he was appointed court painter to the Archduke Albert and the Infanta Isabella, who governed Flanders on behalf of its overlord King Philip IV of Spain.
 
Rubens's work was prized not only by the court and the Catholic Church in Flanders, but also by aristocratic and royal patrons throughout Europe. To help satisfy the ceaseless demand for his paintings he ran a well-organised studio in Antwerp, his pupils and assistants there including the young Anthony van Dyck, who went on to become court painter to Charles I.
 
For about a decade (1623-33) Rubens combined his artistic career with sensitive diplomatic duties. In 1628-30 he visited Spain and England in turn, helping to negotiate peace between the two countries. Returning to London in June 1629, he presented Peace and War (1629-30, National Gallery, London) to the art-loving Charles I as a pictorial statement of his diplomatic mission, and Charles commissioned him to paint the ceiling of the Banqueting House in Whitehall.

During his final decade, Rubens continued working on such major undertakings, alongside more intimate paintings for his own satisfaction. At his death he was mourned as one of the great men of his age.

Christopher Lloyd looks at three moments when London was a magnet for outstanding Old Master paintings