Beneath a darkening sky, a group of mourners carefully lower Christ's body from the cross: a white shroud falls diagonally, and the body slides down it into outstretched hands. Rubens drives a single diagonal through the picture, turning heavy grief into a solemn, flowing composition. The triptych still hangs where it was made to hang, in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp.
Key facts
- Artist
- Peter Paul Rubens1577–1640 · Flemish
- Date
- 1612–1614
- Period
- Baroque1600–1720
- Medium
- Oil on panel (triptych)
- Dimensions
- 421 × 617 cm
- Location
- Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp Antwerp, Belgium
Actual size
Compared with an adult 170 cm tall
Palette
#261C16#45362B#6C5647#100C08#A1978FBackground
In 1611 the Arquebusiers' Guild of Antwerp commissioned the triptych for its altar in the cathedral. The guild's patron saint was Saint Christopher, whose name means “Christ-bearer”.
Rubens answered the name ingeniously: every panel shows Christ being carried. In the pregnant Virgin carries Christ in her womb; in the mourners bear his body; in the old man Simeon holds the infant Christ. When the wings are closed, their outer faces show Saint Christopher carrying the Christ Child across a river.
In 1794 the occupying French army carried this work and The Elevation of the Cross, also in the cathedral, off to the Louvre; they came back in 1815 after the Napoleonic Wars. In the First World War the German army took both triptychs to Berlin, and again they were returned after the war.
Technique & composition
The central panel is ruled by a diagonal from upper right to lower left: pay out , and Christ's body slides down along it. The diagonal fills the picture with movement, a hallmark of Baroque composition.
In Italy Rubens had studied Michelangelo and ancient sculpture, and Christ's body has the powerful beauty of a classical statue. The pale body and white cloth glow against the dark background as the focus of the picture, while balances it at the side.
Details
Symbolism
A steadfast Virgin
Many depictions of this scene show the Virgin swooning to the ground; Rubens has standing, reaching out to receive her son with fortitude. This reflects the Counter-Reformation Church's emphasis on Mary's share in the work of redemption.
The body of Christ
The mourners handle the body as if it were a sacred relic. The white cloth and Christ's body recall the Host and altar cloth of the Mass, reminding the faithful of Christ's presence in the Eucharist — a central point of dispute between Catholics and Protestants.
Stories
- Did you know?
, takes Christ's foot on her shoulder. holds the crown of thorns and the nails, beside the placard inscribed “INRI”.
- Did you know?
In Ouida's novel A Dog of Flanders, the poor boy Nello longs to see the Rubens paintings in the cathedral and finally dies before them with his faithful dog. The story has made the cathedral a place of pilgrimage for countless visitors from Japan and elsewhere in Asia.
Legacy
The Descent from the Cross established Rubens as the foremost painter of the north, fusing Italian grandeur with Flemish realism into a model for Baroque religious painting.
