There is a long-standing rivalry between Brussels and Antwerp over ownership of the legacy of Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) going back to the artist’s own day. When, after his return from Italy in 1608, Rubens was appointed court painter to the Archduke Albert and Archduchess Isabella in Brussels, he promptly married, bought a property in Antwerp, converted it into an Italian mini-palazzo and won an archducal dispensation to work from home. The Rubenshuis is now a principal stop on the Rubens trail, along with Antwerp’s Cathedral of Our Lady, which boasts four altarpieces by the master. The churches of Brussels, meanwhile, have been sadly emptied of the many paintings by Rubens that once adorned them, although the Royal Museum of Fine Arts makes up the lack with its collection