.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This is Rubens' modello for an altarpiece destined for the Church of the Recollects in Antwerp, that since 1802 has been in the now-named Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts in Brussels (see fig. 2). Intermittently referred to in the pre-1914 literature on Rubens, notably by Rooses in his catalogue raisonné, the modello seems only to have been discussed since then by David Freedberg, in his Corpus volume of 1984, and by Michael Jaffé in his catalogue of Rubens' paintings of 1989. The picture claimed to be the modello for the Recollects altarpiece by its owner, the Chevalier de Burtin (d. 1818) in his Traité Théorique et pratique des connaissances nécessaires à tout amateur de tableaux etc. (1808 and 1846, ed., p. 484, no. 136), and sold from his estate (sale, Godfurneau, Brussels, 21ff. July 1819, lot 152) was a smaller picture on canvas; it is interesting to note that in the copy of the Burtin sale catalogue in the Compagnie des Commissaires-Priseurs de Paris, his painting was annotated as a copy.
Freedberg had only an old photograph available for reproduction, while the figure in Jaffé's 1989 volume is of a small format. The painting is here reproduced in colour for the first time; this is also the first occasion since its appearance in the 1936 auction sale in Brussels that the beauty of the sketch's colouring and handling can be properly appreciated.
No archival documentation has so far been discovered for the Recollects altarpiece, which on grounds of style Freedberg dated to circa 1620 (op. cit., no. 47). However, J.R. Martin's earlier dating of it, following previous authorities, to circa 1625 (J.R. Martin, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, I, The Ceiling Paintings for the Jesuit Church in Antwerp, London-New York, 1968, pp. 117-8, under no. 18) seems closer to the mark. Certainly the handling of the modello would appear later than that in the modelli for the tapestries of the Life of Constantine the Great which Held has dated to 1622 (J.S. Held, The Oil Sketches of Peter Paul Rubens, A Critical Catalogue, 1980, I, pp. 65ff.)
After the descent of the Holy Ghost and the gift of 'other tongues' to the Apostles in the house in Jerusalem at Pentecost, ten days after the ascension of Christ, where it is assumed that Mary the mother of Jesus was also present, no further reference in the Bible is made to the Virgin. Authority for her assumption and coronation - two subjects, often combined, that were to become immensely popular - was found in early texts. From the early fifteenth century in the Netherlands, the coronation was thought to have been effected not by Christ alone but by the Trinity. Influential in the depiction of the assumption was the Golden Legend, which also briefly referred to the coronation.
Images of the Virgin were the special target of the iconoclasts, which gave a renewed impetus to her glorification in the plastic arts during the Counter Reformation. Paintings of the Assumption were of special concern to Rubens throughout his career; depictions of the Coronation are far rarer in his oeuvre. Because of the popularity of the subject, Rubens drew on a rich tradition to which he made his own original, dynamic contribution. He introduced the subject in the cycle of paintings to decorate the aisles and galleries of the Antwerp Jesuit Church, the contract for which he signed in 1620. That design he still found as creditably inventive and successful as to confide it as a prototype for Christoffel Jegher, the talented maker of woodcuts, who collaborated with Rubens from the early 1630s.
By 1620, Rubens had devised two other treatments of the subject, one in combination with an Assumption was never taken further, the other may have progressed as far as a cabinet-sized finished painting (Freedberg, no. 46 and Held, no. 380).
The present modello shows Rubens redefining how he imagined this glorious event following his picture of it that he had conjured for the Jesuit Church (which, as a ceiling canvas, was rendered in steep foreshortening). The Virgin ascends just as gracefully, but her hands are now clasped at her breast, and she is accompanied by five angels, while Christ steps down to proffer the crown, which is also held by the seated Father, as the Holy Ghost hovers above in a radiance of heavenly light. In the Jesuit Church design, Christ holds the crown in both hands; here, to convey Christ's gentle care for His mother, one hand reaches tenderly down to steady her as she ascends.
For the first time, Rubens endows the Virgin with an attribute of the Woman of the Apocalypse: '...A woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet... she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod; and her son was taken up to God, and to his throne...'. (Revelations, XII; vv. 1-6). A pentiment in the sketch shows that Rubens first considered an upturned crescent moon. In the finished altarpiece, which was arched, Rubens simplified the draperies and introduced two cherubim in the bottom right hand corner. There may well be other pentiments in the sketch; these are difficult to read beneath the old varnish.
Freedberg had only an old photograph available for reproduction, while the figure in Jaffé's 1989 volume is of a small format. The painting is here reproduced in colour for the first time; this is also the first occasion since its appearance in the 1936 auction sale in Brussels that the beauty of the sketch's colouring and handling can be properly appreciated.
No archival documentation has so far been discovered for the Recollects altarpiece, which on grounds of style Freedberg dated to circa 1620 (op. cit., no. 47). However, J.R. Martin's earlier dating of it, following previous authorities, to circa 1625 (J.R. Martin, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, I, The Ceiling Paintings for the Jesuit Church in Antwerp, London-New York, 1968, pp. 117-8, under no. 18) seems closer to the mark. Certainly the handling of the modello would appear later than that in the modelli for the tapestries of the Life of Constantine the Great which Held has dated to 1622 (J.S. Held, The Oil Sketches of Peter Paul Rubens, A Critical Catalogue, 1980, I, pp. 65ff.)
After the descent of the Holy Ghost and the gift of 'other tongues' to the Apostles in the house in Jerusalem at Pentecost, ten days after the ascension of Christ, where it is assumed that Mary the mother of Jesus was also present, no further reference in the Bible is made to the Virgin. Authority for her assumption and coronation - two subjects, often combined, that were to become immensely popular - was found in early texts. From the early fifteenth century in the Netherlands, the coronation was thought to have been effected not by Christ alone but by the Trinity. Influential in the depiction of the assumption was the Golden Legend, which also briefly referred to the coronation.
Images of the Virgin were the special target of the iconoclasts, which gave a renewed impetus to her glorification in the plastic arts during the Counter Reformation. Paintings of the Assumption were of special concern to Rubens throughout his career; depictions of the Coronation are far rarer in his oeuvre. Because of the popularity of the subject, Rubens drew on a rich tradition to which he made his own original, dynamic contribution. He introduced the subject in the cycle of paintings to decorate the aisles and galleries of the Antwerp Jesuit Church, the contract for which he signed in 1620. That design he still found as creditably inventive and successful as to confide it as a prototype for Christoffel Jegher, the talented maker of woodcuts, who collaborated with Rubens from the early 1630s.
By 1620, Rubens had devised two other treatments of the subject, one in combination with an Assumption was never taken further, the other may have progressed as far as a cabinet-sized finished painting (Freedberg, no. 46 and Held, no. 380).
The present modello shows Rubens redefining how he imagined this glorious event following his picture of it that he had conjured for the Jesuit Church (which, as a ceiling canvas, was rendered in steep foreshortening). The Virgin ascends just as gracefully, but her hands are now clasped at her breast, and she is accompanied by five angels, while Christ steps down to proffer the crown, which is also held by the seated Father, as the Holy Ghost hovers above in a radiance of heavenly light. In the Jesuit Church design, Christ holds the crown in both hands; here, to convey Christ's gentle care for His mother, one hand reaches tenderly down to steady her as she ascends.
For the first time, Rubens endows the Virgin with an attribute of the Woman of the Apocalypse: '...A woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet... she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod; and her son was taken up to God, and to his throne...'. (Revelations, XII; vv. 1-6). A pentiment in the sketch shows that Rubens first considered an upturned crescent moon. In the finished altarpiece, which was arched, Rubens simplified the draperies and introduced two cherubim in the bottom right hand corner. There may well be other pentiments in the sketch; these are difficult to read beneath the old varnish.