Looking East: Rubens's Encounter with Asia

March 5–June 9, 2013

Peter Paul Rubens was one of the most talented and successful artists working in seventeenth-century Europe. During his illustrious career as a court painter and diplomat, Rubens expressed a fascination with exotic costumes and headdresses. With his masterful handling of black chalk and touches of red, Rubens executed a compelling drawing that featured a figure wearing Asian costume — a depiction that has lately been identified as Man in Korean Costume. Now in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum, the drawing is the focal point of an exhibition that explores for the first time what the Flemish artist could have known about Asia in general and Korea in particular.

The exhibition coincides with the RSA meeting in San Diego.