Return from the Fields,1640 by Peter Paul Rubens

Made toward the end of Rubens's life, this fruitful summer landscape was inspired by Brueghel's countrysides a century before. Rubens painted this with a charged brush, as if conjuring the lushness of the subject with the lavishness of his materials. The gaze of the woman on the right invites artist and viewer to appreciate the rewards of peace.