This is the second volume in the series Rubens unveiled, in which the Rubens Research Project of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) shares the fruit of its research with a wider public. It is written by Dr. Valérie Herremans and follows a first book on Rubens's painting technique.
This second publication explores the physical, spiritual and cultural context of several major Rubens paintings in the Antwerp museum's collection, drawn from four once-prominent houses of worship in the city. The Norbertine Abbey of Saint Michael, the Franciscan Church, and the churches of the Calced and the Discalced Carmelites were all suppressed during the French occupation that began in 1794.
The book describes the history of these religious institutions and reveals how they looked, inside and out. We learn about the works they owned by Rubens, the patrons who commissioned them, the paintings' original locations, and the other important works of art that adorned the same churches. Extensive illustrations and detailed reconstructions offer a realistic glimpse of magnificent interiors that were among Antwerp's most beautiful.
Discover the story and original settings of some of Rubens's greatest masterpieces, now in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp.