The Four Continents

The Four Continents
Artist	Peter Paul Rubens
Year	1612–1614 or 1615
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	209 cm × 284 cm (82 in × 112 in)
Location	Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

The Four Continents, also known as The Four Rivers of Paradise or The Four Corners of the World, is a painting by Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens, made between 1612 and 1615. Rubens painted this piece during a time of truce in the Eighty Years' War known as the Twelve Years' Truce. The painting depicts the female personifications of the four continents (Europe, Asia, Africa, and America) with the male personifications of their respective major rivers (the Danube, the Ganges, the Nile, and the Río de la Plata). The painting also depicts three putti in the foreground along with a crocodile, tigress, and her three cubs. An important figure in this piece is the woman in the middle who personifies Africa. She was one of the two black women Rubens painted at the time.^[1]

There have been two different interpretations on this piece from the scholars Elizabeth McGrath and Jean Michel Massing. Both scholars presented different interpretations for who the figures are personifying. Other ideas have suggested that Rubens was driven by his own religious influences when creating the piece. Since 2015, there has also been some important restoration work done on both the painting and its frame.