Rubens' Antwerp: A Guide highlights the life and work of Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) in a comprehensive and accessible way. The Antwerp museums and churches contain about a hundred paintings, drawings, designs and sketches by Rubens. A large part of those are public. Antwerp is the only city in the world that is so deeply rooted with Peter Paul Rubens and his baroque heritage. Rubens' Antwerp: A Guide allows you to experience Rubens and the Baroque in an intense way. This multifaceted acquaintance with Rubens goes hand in hand with a dive into the glorious past of the vibrant city of culture, where the master's life largely took place. A mapped walk takes you to the various places in Antwerp where Rubens' work can be seen. You can visit his house with the studio, where so many masterpieces came about. You also visit the homes of his friends Balthasar Moretus and Nicolaas Rockox, and you can admire paintings of him in the historic churches in the rooms for which they were made. 2018 is the official Rubens' year.

Irene Smets studied history and philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven. She has numerous publications and articles about history and culture to her name. She is the author of a series of guides for Belgian museums and monuments: The Cathedral of Our Lady of Antwerp, The Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Antwerp, The Groeninge Museum and Arent House Bruges, The Memling Museum Bruges, The Royal Palace in Brussels and The Royal Greenhouses of Laeken.