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Painting in Antwerp. 499 and on leaving Van Veen, in 1600, lie paid a visit to Italy. He resided at Venice, where he studied the works of Titian and Paolo Veronese, and was much patronized by the Duke of Milan. In 1605 he went on a diplomatic visit to Philip III. of Spain. There he executed portraits of eminent personages of the Court. On his return to Italy, Rubens went again to Rome, then through Milan to Genoa, where he painted many pictures for the palaces of the Genoese nobles. In 1608, on hearing that his mother was dangerously ill, Rubens quitted Genoa in haste, but unfortunately arrived at Antwerp too late to see his parent alive. He had intended to return to Mantua, but the Archduke Albert persuaded him, much against his inclina- tion, to remain in the Netherlands, and in 1609 appointed him court-painter to himself and his Duchess Isabella. He consented, on the understanding that he might reside in Antwerp. There he married his first wife, Isabella Brandt ; and in the following year he erected a magnificent mansion for himself, and became the head of an illustrious school of painters. In 1621 — 25 Rubens was at work, in Paris and in Antwerp, on the series of paintings to illustrate the Life of Marie de Medicis, for the decoration of the Luxembourg : the series is now in the Louvre. Soon after his return to Antwerp from Paris, Rubens started in 1626 on a tour through Holland, and during his journey visited many Dutch painters of importance. In this year his wife Isabella died, leaving him two sons, whose well-known portraits are in the Liechtenstein Gallery in Vienna. In 1627 he was employed in diplomatic service at the Hague, and in the following year he was sent by the widow of the Archduke Albert, the Infanta K K 2