Die Bekehrung des heiligen Bavo

By 1624 Rubens was less a working painter than an institution. He ran a busy Antwerp studio, handled diplomatic errands for the Spanish crown, and took on the commissions that mattered most to the Catholic church as it fought to win back the southern Netherlands. This was one of them: a towering altarpiece for the cathedral in Ghent, ordered by its bishop, Antoon Triest. The subject is a local one. Bavo was a 7th-century Frankish nobleman from the region who had led an easy, dissolute life, then gave away his wealth after his wife died and became a monk. Rubens shows the moment of turning, on a grand staircase crowded with figures. It still stands in the cathedral that carries the saint's name.