Rubens’ hall at the Hermitage, St Petersburg

In Leo von Klenze's project this room in the New Hermitage was allotted to the display of Dutch and Flemish painting. Today it contains works by the great Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). The collection of his works, including 22 paintings and 19 sketches, covers all periods of the artist's career. Rubens presents himself as a superb portraitist, a master of multi-figure compositions, an animal painter and a genius at landscape and still life. Among the masterpieces here are Perseus and Andromeda, Bacchus and Portrait of a Lady-in-Waiting to the Infanta Isabella. The best-known canvases include The Union of Earth and Water, The Descent from the Cross and The Stone Haulers.