Peter Paul Rubens was born in 1577. Rubens was a man of immense energy and dedication to his art. In the tradition of India?s Gurukula System, he developed one of the great schools of European painting, Rubens produced numerous masterpieces, many of them large frescos and canvases, designed and conceived by him, and these adorn the museums and galleries of Europe and other parts of the world. Rubens was also a man of great accomplishment and compassion, and served the cause of peace as a diplomat of outstanding ability. The following are the revealing words of Mr. Makaminan Makagiansar of the Directorate-General of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

Even though he was working for several royal households, Rubens always acted as a universal messenger of peace. He defended the pressures of the super-powers of his time. In Madrid, Paris and London, he tried to prevent war and pleaded for a policy of negotiation and understanding. With a heartbreaking sense of reality he expressed the horrors of war in his masterpiece of the Palazzo Pitti. With the same eloquence he made the blessings of peace immortal in his painting of the Louvre. Genius of art, scholar, fighter for peace, these qualities make Rubens loved by people who believe in international understanding.

The Indian P & T Departments feels privileged to honour the memory of Peter Paul Rubens, a great artist, diplomat and humanist, by issuing a Commemorative Stamp during the 400th anniversary of his birth.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India