The river of oblivion, or identifying Rubens: decadent metaphors in the early reception of the artist’s work

The aim of this study is to identify elements of decadent discourse in the early reception of Peter Paul Rubens’ work. The writings of Roger de Piles and other representatives of 17th–18th-century aesthetics and art theory are analyzed in light of the metamorphoses of decadent culture (Edgar Allan Poe, Baudelaire). The article focuses on the early reception of Rubens’ art (Roger de Piles) and its consideration within the context of contemporary theoretical literature on the great Flemish painter (Svetlana Alpers). This publication develops several general propositions about the nature of classical art previously advanced by the author in a series of works on the origins of modern aesthetics (Rykov, 2023a; 2023b; 2022). The scientific novelty lies in supplementing existing theoretical concepts of Rubens’ work in both domestic and foreign art studies through a new interpretation of several key sources. The Baroque metaphor of the universal genius is analyzed for the first time in connection with the romantic poetics of crime (Baudelaire, Edgar Allan Poe) and its echoes in classical art. For the first time, the decadent genealogy of the metaphorical fabric of Rubens’ interpretations is traced. The mannerist (decadent) line in European art studies is revealed through the concrete example of the formation of one mythologeme (amnesia).