The Descent from the Cross

When Rubens came home to Antwerp from Italy in 1608, he brought with him everything he had taken from Caravaggio and the Venetians, and within a few years he was the most sought-after painter in northern Europe. His altarpiece of the Descent from the Cross for Antwerp Cathedral, finished around 1614, made his name, and other churches wanted the same thing. This is one of those later versions, painted for the cathedral at Saint-Omer, across what is now the French border. The composition stays close to the famous one, the dead Christ lowered on a long white sheet, the strain of the men who take his weight, the pale body the brightest thing in the picture. Below, Mary reaches up while the cloth slides through the hands that hold it.