Peter Paul Rubens, a Flemish Baroque painter of the sixteenth and seventeenth century focused his work namely upon the nude, a typical fixation, especially with Italian-based artists during the Renaissance and Mannerism periods. Italy - particularly Florence and Rome – was at the heart of the Renaissance – A period of New Learning and the rebirth of Classical Art and Literature – and therefore produced many prominent artists who inevitably influenced the work of many aspiring young followers of the Renaissance era. However, the Catholic Church became increasingly unsatisfied with the mannerist's work as it no longer honored the spirituality the Church required. Therefore a new form of art was created – Baroque – A style for which Ruben was renowned for due to the fact that he is fundamentally revitalized and redirected Northern European painting as Renaissance art gradually began to lose popularity with secular authorities, yet kept its freedom and classical themes.
             The Renaissance was a period of great creative inspiration, from which many artists used as a motive to move away from the restrictive methods of Byzantine - a style that framed itself primarily upon the glorification of God. Throughout the 15th century, artists studied the natural world, perfecting their understanding of such subjects as anatomy and perspective. The High Renaissance was of the great explosions of creative genius in history and produced many masterpieces still thought of as irreplaceable to date. Despite this, Rubens was one of the earlier Baroque artists who realised the intricate and over-complicated style of mannerism and late Renaissance work would not achieve any strong emotive outcome. Rubens, raised initially as a Calvinist, taught by humanist scholars, and finally re-baptized into Roman Catholicism was inevitably to become an artist who devoted much of his talent into the glorification of religion, which was what Renaissance art was es...