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拍品專文
The subject of this painting is taken from Saint Theresa's Book of the Foundations. In chapter ten she relates how she had accepted a house and garden in Valladolid from a wealthy man, Don Bernardino de Mendoza, to be used for the founding of a convent. Two months later he died from an illness that kept him from speaking, preventing him from making a proper confession. Christ appeared before Theresa on two occasions telling her that Mendoza could not be delivered from Purgatory until the first Mass had been said in the new convent. When permission was finally given to have Mass said on the site, Theresa saw Don Bernardino standing next to the priest thanking her for enabling his soul to go to heaven. Rubens' image is a composite of these events, Christ's visits, her intercession and Don Bernardino's ascent to heaven. The focus of the scene, however, is clearly Saint Theresa's role as intercessor for souls in purgatory, the first time she is depicted in this role.
It reflects Rubens' final composition as does a panel produced in his studio now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, yet it is unclear where (or whether) the Bridgewater sketch fits into the artist's creative process, one that often includes several stage oil sketches. The Antwerp paintign is a pendant to The Education of the Virgin (Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp) and Rubens painted both in the 1630s for an altar in the city's church of the Discalced Carmelites, the order founded by Saint Theresa. The altar was in a chapel in the north transept, one of a larger program of seven altars, and was donated by Felipa Mendes, a member of Antwerp's wealthy Portuguese community. Altars decorated with purgatory imagery were privileged altars that focused exclusively on the Mass and its ability to free the soul on whose behalf it was said. Those praying in this chapel would, follow Saint Theresa's example and intervene for their loved ones to ensure the entrance of their souls into heaven.
There are three works associated with Rubens' altarpiece, all on panel and all on roughly the same scale. The sketch most closely associated with Saint Theresa of Avila interceding for Bernardino de Mendoza is now in Lier (fig. 1; 44 x 36 cm, Museum Wuyts van Campen-Caroly; see J. Held, The Oil Sketches of Peter Paul Rubens, 1980, p. 587, no. 427, pl. 418). It is broader in scope than the altarpiece, is painted in grisaille, and contains some elements that were changed before Rubens painted the final composition. One of the most important changes is the gesture of Saint Theresa. In the Lier sketch she modestly holds both hands to her chest while in the final painting she gestures towards Christ with one hand as if in the middle of speaking, a change that emphasizes her active intercession on behalf of Don Bernardino. The woman in purgatory next to Mendoza is also made more active in the final painting, reaching up to the putto in the hope of being rescued. The putto's wings, those of a butterfly in the sketch, have become those of an angel in the final work and another putto has been added, emerging from a mass of clouds between the kneeling Theresa and the standing Christ. This is the only study that Held associates with the Antwerp altarpiece.
Other scholars, however, have mentioned two other sketches in connection with it: the one from the Bridgewater collection in this sale, and the one now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (fig. 2). They are both on panel and are both around one third the size of the finished painting. Compositionally, they both reflect the finished work but there are notable differences in their handling. The Bridgewater sketch is more boldly and loosely painted than the work in the Museum's collection, which is described in the catalogue of Flemish paintings as 'a good workshop copy' (W. Liedtke, Flemish Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1984, p. 216). The landscape is less articulated as are the bodies of the souls in purgatory (see, for example, the bearded man with clasped hands). The Bridgewater sketch is painted more thinly overall and has bolder highlights, qualities more commonly associated with preliminary studies than with copies or ricordos.
The critical fortunes of the Bridgewater sketch have been mixed. In the Catalogue of the Bridgewater and Ellesmere Collections of Pictures at Bridgewater House, 1897 (no. 264), the sketch is attributed to Rubens in full and is described as having been engraved by Bolswert. It refers the reader to Smith's Catalogue raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French painters (London, 1830, II, p. 22, no. 76). Smith, who was curator of the Bridgewater collection, describes the Met painting as 'the finished study for the [altarpiece] of exquisite beauty and perfection,' and the Bridgewater panel as 'a duplicate sketch.' Rooses (L'Oeuvre de P.P. Rubens, Antwerp, 1888, p. 353) describes both the Lier and the Bridgewater paintings as small copies of the Antwerp altarpiece and mentions another untraced version in the Fahne collection at Château Roland. Vlieghe (Corpus Rubenianum, vol. VIII: Saints II, London, 1973, pp. 166-68) cites the Lier sketch as the preparatory study for the Antwerp paintings and lists the Metropolitan Museum and Bridgewater panels under copies.
The popularity of the composition is evidenced by the number of reproductive prints that were made after it. The earliest is by Schelte à Bolswert (1586-1659), who often worked for Rubens and whose print reproduces the composition in reverse, as one would expect if the printmaker were working directly from the painting. Another print by Frangois Langot (1641-1679) reproduces the composition the right way around, suggesting that either he went to great lengths to reverse the composition while working from the painting or that he copied Bolswert's print. There is another print by P. Spruyt that has an inscription stating that it was made after the painting in the van Sassegem collection, the one now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (C.G. V. Schneevoogt, Catalogue des Estampes Gravées d'apres P.P. Rubens, Haarlem, 1873, no. 68).
It reflects Rubens' final composition as does a panel produced in his studio now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, yet it is unclear where (or whether) the Bridgewater sketch fits into the artist's creative process, one that often includes several stage oil sketches. The Antwerp paintign is a pendant to The Education of the Virgin (Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Antwerp) and Rubens painted both in the 1630s for an altar in the city's church of the Discalced Carmelites, the order founded by Saint Theresa. The altar was in a chapel in the north transept, one of a larger program of seven altars, and was donated by Felipa Mendes, a member of Antwerp's wealthy Portuguese community. Altars decorated with purgatory imagery were privileged altars that focused exclusively on the Mass and its ability to free the soul on whose behalf it was said. Those praying in this chapel would, follow Saint Theresa's example and intervene for their loved ones to ensure the entrance of their souls into heaven.
There are three works associated with Rubens' altarpiece, all on panel and all on roughly the same scale. The sketch most closely associated with Saint Theresa of Avila interceding for Bernardino de Mendoza is now in Lier (fig. 1; 44 x 36 cm, Museum Wuyts van Campen-Caroly; see J. Held, The Oil Sketches of Peter Paul Rubens, 1980, p. 587, no. 427, pl. 418). It is broader in scope than the altarpiece, is painted in grisaille, and contains some elements that were changed before Rubens painted the final composition. One of the most important changes is the gesture of Saint Theresa. In the Lier sketch she modestly holds both hands to her chest while in the final painting she gestures towards Christ with one hand as if in the middle of speaking, a change that emphasizes her active intercession on behalf of Don Bernardino. The woman in purgatory next to Mendoza is also made more active in the final painting, reaching up to the putto in the hope of being rescued. The putto's wings, those of a butterfly in the sketch, have become those of an angel in the final work and another putto has been added, emerging from a mass of clouds between the kneeling Theresa and the standing Christ. This is the only study that Held associates with the Antwerp altarpiece.
Other scholars, however, have mentioned two other sketches in connection with it: the one from the Bridgewater collection in this sale, and the one now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (fig. 2). They are both on panel and are both around one third the size of the finished painting. Compositionally, they both reflect the finished work but there are notable differences in their handling. The Bridgewater sketch is more boldly and loosely painted than the work in the Museum's collection, which is described in the catalogue of Flemish paintings as 'a good workshop copy' (W. Liedtke, Flemish Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1984, p. 216). The landscape is less articulated as are the bodies of the souls in purgatory (see, for example, the bearded man with clasped hands). The Bridgewater sketch is painted more thinly overall and has bolder highlights, qualities more commonly associated with preliminary studies than with copies or ricordos.
The critical fortunes of the Bridgewater sketch have been mixed. In the Catalogue of the Bridgewater and Ellesmere Collections of Pictures at Bridgewater House, 1897 (no. 264), the sketch is attributed to Rubens in full and is described as having been engraved by Bolswert. It refers the reader to Smith's Catalogue raisonné of the works of the most eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French painters (London, 1830, II, p. 22, no. 76). Smith, who was curator of the Bridgewater collection, describes the Met painting as 'the finished study for the [altarpiece] of exquisite beauty and perfection,' and the Bridgewater panel as 'a duplicate sketch.' Rooses (L'Oeuvre de P.P. Rubens, Antwerp, 1888, p. 353) describes both the Lier and the Bridgewater paintings as small copies of the Antwerp altarpiece and mentions another untraced version in the Fahne collection at Château Roland. Vlieghe (Corpus Rubenianum, vol. VIII: Saints II, London, 1973, pp. 166-68) cites the Lier sketch as the preparatory study for the Antwerp paintings and lists the Metropolitan Museum and Bridgewater panels under copies.
The popularity of the composition is evidenced by the number of reproductive prints that were made after it. The earliest is by Schelte à Bolswert (1586-1659), who often worked for Rubens and whose print reproduces the composition in reverse, as one would expect if the printmaker were working directly from the painting. Another print by Frangois Langot (1641-1679) reproduces the composition the right way around, suggesting that either he went to great lengths to reverse the composition while working from the painting or that he copied Bolswert's print. There is another print by P. Spruyt that has an inscription stating that it was made after the painting in the van Sassegem collection, the one now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (C.G. V. Schneevoogt, Catalogue des Estampes Gravées d'apres P.P. Rubens, Haarlem, 1873, no. 68).