Virgin Mary Presenting a Liturgical Robe to St. Ildefonso, c.1630/32 by Peter Paul Rubens
Canvas Print - 13741-RPP

In 1630, the Infanta Isabella commissioned Rubens to paint an altarpiece for the chapel of the Confraternity of Sts. Ildefonso in the church of Saint Jacques sur Coudenberg in Brussels. Ildefonso, the patron saint of the brotherhood, which was open only to members of the Archduke's court, was a Spanish monk of noble birth who in 657 became Archbishop of Toledo. In one of his writings he defended the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, and to this cult of the Mother of God the legend itself owes its origin. Rubens has depicted the passing of the vestment on the middle panel of the altar. The kneeling saint humbly accepts the vestment and touches his lips to the heavenly gift. On either side of the throne-like chair stand two saints, who together with the kneeling figure form a semicircle. Three angels with wreaths fly over the scene. The donor of the altar, together with Sts. Elisabeth of Thuringia is depicted on the right wing, and her late husband, Archduke Albert, together with St. Albert of Liège on the left. It is evident from the study for the composition, located in St. Petersburg, that the artist originally considered another solution: the donor couple and their attendants are not represented on separate wings, but are included in the overall image, located in the same church room as the other figures. Unlike the Viennese painting, in the sketch two more clerics are seen beside the right-hand column at the bottom, turning back in fright - an allusion to the legend that the priests accompanying Ildefonso on entering the church were so blinded by the radiance of the Virgin that they fled. The artist must have made all the changes to the original composition - especially the reduction of the architectural decor, allowing the central group to stand out - in order to present the miraculous event illuminated by an unearthly light even more vividly to the viewer. "All in all, this is one of the most astonishing images in the art of the modern age, and at the same time an incomparable vow-painting of pious prince-givers," wrote Jacob Burckhart in his Memoirs of Rubens.