Peter Paul Rubens is one of the world’s most famous Baroque artists, known for his dramatic altarpieces, recent authentication debates, and of course, his eponymous curvy ‘Rubenesque’ beauties. What is often forgotten, though, is Rubens’s illustrious career as a Holy Roman Empire diplomat. Turns out, artists have always been subsidizing their income with side hustles.

Rubens’s father, Jan Rubens, was a successful lawyer and alderman in Antwerp and worked as a legal advisor in the court of William I of Orange. Seven years and an illegitimate child with William I’s wife, Anna of Saxony, later, Peter Paul Rubens was born. Following an education filled with Latin lessons and classical literature, overseen by his father, a teenage Peter Paul began work as a page to the countess Marguerite de Ligne-Arenberg. Marguerite ruled the Holy Roman Empire county of Arenberg after the death of her husband, the year before Rubens’ birth.

By the early 1590s, Rubens had decided to pursue his passion for creating art, beginning an apprenticeship with the landscape artist Tobias Verhaecht, and later studying with Adam van Noort and Otto van Veen. Van Veen had been the court painter for several leaders of Habsburg Netherlands, and taught Rubens the ropes of how to successfully ingratiate oneself in court. He likely introduced his pupil to the rulers of Flanders, and kickstarted Rubens’s aristocratic network. He also taught Rubens the concept of the “pictor doctus”—learned painter—a role which Rubens pursued for the rest of his life, remaining well-read, well-traveled, and with a deep understanding of the rules of court politics.

Peter Paul Rubens, The Medici Cycle: The Coronation of Marie de Medici (1573-1642) at St. Denis, 13th May 1610, detail of the crowning, 1621-25. Photo by Art Images via Getty Images.

By the early 1600s Rubens was being sent on missions by the Duke of Mantua, and by 1623 the artist was on a fixed salary for his diplomatic services by the Dutch monarchy. He excelled in diplomacy, a skill that Rubens put largely down to having nerves of steel: “my talent is such that no undertaking, however vast or various, has ever surpassed my courage.”

As a respected court painter, Rubens developed an enormously powerful network of royal and aristocratic connections, and was often sent on diplomatic (and sometimes covert) missions between courts, aided by his ability to communicate fluently in five languages. He created portraits of aristocracy as he travelled across Europe, and these journeys allowed him to study the art of Italian Renaissance and Mannerist masters, including Leonardo da Vinci and Caravaggio. His encounters with these artists’ work made a significant impact on Rubens’ own practice.

Peter Paul Rubens, Portrait of King Philip IV of Spain, of the Spanish Netherlands and King of Portugal (ca. 1628-29). Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images.

One example of Rubens’ undercover diplomatic work came while he was undertaking a set of two large commissions for Marie de’ Medici, the Queen Mother of France. Stationed in the French court, he used his favorable position to gain access to information about France’s political plans, gathering clandestine information on the behalf of the Spanish Habsburgs. His work as a diplomat and spy for the Spanish King Philip IV was influential in the agreement for peace between Spain and England, who had been at war for almost two decades. Philip IV named Rubens the Secretary of the Flanders’ Council, a title he held until his death and which passed to his eldest son.

Rubens undertook diplomatic missions in Spain, England, and the Dutch Republic, dedicating much of the first years of his 50’s to politics. The intensity with which he undertook these missions may have been a welcome distraction for the artist, following the death of his wife, likely from the plague, in 1626.

Peter Paul Rubens’s paintings on the Banqueting Hall ceiling depicting The Union of the Crowns, The Apotheosis of James I and The Peaceful Reign of James I. Most likely commissioned by King Charles I in 1629-30. Photo by Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images.

Diplomatic successes certainly came at the cost of certain painting projects, with missions taking up to half a year at a time, but the valuable commissions he received from royal courts will have certainly compensated for this financially. Praised throughout Europe, by the time he was 54 Rubens had been knighted by both England’s King Charles I and Spain’s King Philip IV; and had been given an honorary masters degree from Cambridge University. His English knighthood came with a bejeweled sword and a diamond-studded hatband.

Rubens’s roles as artist and diplomat were mutually beneficial: his diplomacy took him directly to wealthy aristocratic patrons and allowed him to travel and expand his artistic references, while his work as a painter earned him favor in courts where he could extract information for political missions. In the end, it really has always been about who you know, and perhaps who you’re spying for.