Fiona Healy

Whereas other volumes in the Corpus Rubenianum series address a single topic, Part IV (The Holy Trinity, The Life of the Virgin, Madonnas and The Holy Family) deals with very distinct topics, two of which, The Trinity and The Life of the Virgin, form the subject of the present book. More precisely, the book deals with the Virgin's pre-Annunciation life, as those episodes involving her son - the Annunciation itself, Mary's suffering during Christ's passion, her assumption, and coronation - have been treated in the parts of the Corpus that deal with Christ's life. The focus here is on Mary's birth, upbringing and marriage, events described in varying detail in Early Christian and medieval texts. Not all the works discussed are by Rubens himself, but all show his artistic ingenuity, evident in his novel treatment of well-known subjects, often with a long visual tradition, as well as in his ability to devise new ones. Also catalogued here are such important altarpieces as The Immaculate Conception once owned by Philip IV of Spain and the magnificent Virgin as the Woman of the Apocalypse. The very different theme of The Holy Trinity comprises just four entries, which, however, constitute half the volume. During the occupation of Mantua by Napoleonic troops, the three enormous paintings which Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga had commissioned from Rubens were removed from the Church of Santissima Trinita. The Transfiguration and The Baptism of Christ, both prime examples of the Trinity's manifestation on earth, have survived intact. The Gonzaga Family in Adoration of The Trinity was, by contrast, cut into fragments. The large central section with the portraits of Vincenzo, his wife and parents looking up at the angels displaying a tapestry with the Trinity was, however, rescued for Mantua. Other fragments, primarily with portraits of the children and halberdiers, were dispersed, though some have since resurfaced. The analysis of this commission offers the first comprehensive treatment of the material in English and highlights this project as the earliest indication of Rubens's creative potential in designing large-scale decorative programmes.

One remarkable feature of European culture as it developed in the Renaissance was the accommodation it made with ancient paganism. The classical gods and their legends were allegorised, transformed into symbolic figures or emblematic scenes that might accord with Christian morality. At the same time a secular space was created in art for the depiction of the most popular myths, above all the love stories recounted by the ancient poets. These stories were not only attractive in themselves; they offered the opportunity to depict nude figures in narrative action, which the example of antiquity held forth as the highest goal for painting. Rubens was one of the greatest creators of classical allegory; he was also a supreme interpreter of the classical stories. No painter was so at home in the literature of the Greeks and Romans. When he painted for pleasure, which, increasingly in the course of his life, he felt able to do, he used pagan myth to express and celebrate themes of love, beauty and the creative forces of nature, often in wonderfully idiosyncratic ways. At the same time, as a Christian committed to the ideals of the Catholic Reformation, Rubens respected the restrictions generally placed on the depiction of pagan tales. Most of his mythological paintings were made for private settings, for display within houses (including his own) or in the galleries of princes, noblemen and prelates. It is happy accident of history that these splendid paintings are now widely visible in the great museums of the world.