Elewijt Castle

Elewijt Castle, also known as Het Steen or the Rubens Castle (Rubenskasteel), stands in Elewijt, a village in the municipality of Zemst, in the province of Flemish Brabant, Belgium. The estate owes its lasting fame to one remarkable resident — the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens, one of the defining artists of European Baroque.

What is the connection to Rubens?

Het Steen served as Rubens's country house from 1635 until his death in 1640. The painter spent the final years of his life here, away from the bustle of Antwerp, where he had spent decades running one of the most celebrated painting workshops of his era. Choosing a rural castle as his residence in this late period fits with what is known of Rubens's biography at the time: he had begun to scale back commissioned work and painted increasingly for his own satisfaction.

The castle in Rubens's paintings

Het Steen itself became both a setting and a source of inspiration for several of Rubens's late landscape paintings. Although best known for large-scale religious and mythological scenes and for his portraits, in his final years Rubens turned his attention to landscape painting, and views connected to the estate provided the subject for a number of these works. For art historians, these paintings are valuable evidence of what the Flemish countryside looked like in the first half of the seventeenth century, as well as of how the artist himself viewed the landscape around him in the closing chapter of his career.

Where exactly is the castle located?

Elewijt Castle lies in Elewijt, part of the municipality of Zemst, in the province of Flemish Brabant. Its geographic coordinates are approximately 50.959306, 4.477389, placing it in the corridor between Brussels and Antwerp — the two cities most closely tied to Rubens's life and career. This location helps explain why the painter could treat Het Steen as a quiet retreat from city life while still remaining within relatively easy reach of Antwerp.

Why does this place matter?

The name "Rubens Castle" (Rubenskasteel) exists alongside the historical name Het Steen and reflects the importance art history assigns to this particular estate — not as a typical noble residence, but as a place directly tied to the final chapter of one of the great masters of Baroque painting. For anyone interested in Flemish art history, it is one of the few surviving sites that can be linked directly to Rubens's biography, rather than only to his works displayed in museums.

Frequently asked questions

Why is the castle also called Rubenskasteel? Because it was the country house of Peter Paul Rubens from 1635 until his death in 1640.

Where exactly is the castle located? In Elewijt, part of the municipality of Zemst, in the province of Flemish Brabant, Belgium.

How is the castle connected to Rubens's paintings? Het Steen and its surroundings appear in several of the painter's late landscape works, created in the final years of his life.

What other names is this place known by? Besides Elewijt Castle, it is also known as Het Steen and Rubenskasteel.