My trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art was definitely an enjoyable trip. When I first arrived, I was in awe at the size and beauty of the building. The building's architecture reminded me of a lot of European architecture. The inside of the building was also very nice. While walking around I was fascinated with many of the exhibits. My favorite of the displays was probably the ancient arms and weapons. In that particular exhibit, they had many ancient guns and swords and different types of armor. The museum had many interesting rooms. There were rooms like the Indian room, which had pillars with old Indian architecture. There were groups of paintings from different time periods and areas of the world. The painting that I chose to write about is from the seventeenth-century Flemish painting's room. I chose Peter Paul Rubens' "Prometheus Bound."
             Peter Paul Rubens lived from fifteen seventy-seven to sixteen forty, he was considered one of the most important artists in the seventeenth century. Rubens was born in Siegen, Westphalia. Before Rubens was born his parents fled from the city of Antwerp to Westphalia because of religious persecution. Jan Rubens, Peter's father, was the adviser and lover of Princess Anna of Saxon, wife of Prince William I of Orange. When Jan Rubens died Peter's family moved back to Antwerp. After studying the Classics in a Latin school and serving as a court page, Rubens decided to become a painter.
             Rubens was apprenticed to Tobias Verhaecht, Adam van Noort, and Otto van Veen three minor Flemish painters. In fifteen ninety-eight, at the age of twenty-one, he was accorded the rank of master painter of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke. Shortly afterwards, following the example of many northern European artists of the period, Rubens traveled to Italy. In 1600 he arrived in Venice, where he was particularly inspired by the paintings of Titian, Paolo Veronese, and Tintoretto. During his years...