Le Martyre de saint Thomas

By 1637 Rubens was in his late fifties, slowed by gout, and mostly painting for himself at his country house outside Antwerp. This altarpiece was an exception, ordered from far away. A prior named Jan Svitavsky wanted a high altar for the Augustinian church of Saint Thomas in Prague, and he wanted a Rubens. The subject is the apostle's death in India, where tradition says Thomas was speared for his preaching, and Rubens gives it the full weight of his late manner: twisting bodies, a hard diagonal of light, a crowd pressing in around the executioners. The finished canvas was shipped north and installed above the altar in 1639. Look for the Indian details he worked in from prints and hearsay, since Rubens had never been anywhere near the place.