Glorification of the Eucharist

This is not a finished picture but a pitch. Around 1630 Rubens was the most sought-after painter in Europe, and also busy as a diplomat for the Spanish crown, so for a big commission he often worked like this, a small quick oil on panel to show the client the whole idea before anyone committed. The client here was the Carmelite friars of Antwerp, who wanted a high altar. Rubens designed the entire thing at once, the painting and its stone frame together: the risen Christ steps on a snake and a skeleton, sin and death, flanked by figures the church linked to the Eucharist, among them the prophet Elijah and Saint Paul. Look at the columns and the upper corners and you can still watch him offering a choice, a different architectural motif on the left than on the right, for the friars to pick from. They approved a version, and in 1637 and 1638 the actual altar was carried out by other hands, the painter Gerard Seghers and the sculptor Hans van Mildert.