Christus und die reuigen Sünder

Rubens painted this in 1617 in Antwerp, a Catholic city on the front line of the religious wars that were splitting Europe. The theme is deliberately pointed. Around Christ he gathers four famous sinners from scripture who repented and were forgiven: Mary Magdalene gazing up at him, Peter who had denied knowing him three times, the thief crucified beside him, and King David, who had sent a man to his death so he could take the man's wife. Forgiveness through confession and penance was exactly the Catholic teaching that Protestant reformers had thrown out. So a warm, human picture like this carried a quiet argument inside it. The four heads are drawn close and intimate, almost a group portrait of the redeemed.