SPECTACULAR RUBENS: THE TRIUMPH OF THE EUCHARIST
In the early 1620s
>> Peter
Paul Rubens * 1577 Siegen † 1640 Antwerpen
designed a series of 20 tapestries celebrating the glory of the Roman
Catholic Church for the Spanish governor-general of the Netherlands, the
Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia (1566–1633). Spectacular Rubens: The Triumph of
the Eucharist reunites Rubens’s exuberant oil sketches painted for this
commission with the monumental original tapestries, the largest number of works
for the Eucharist series assembled in over half a century. The exhibition
presents an unrivaled opportunity to experience the Baroque master’s
extraordinary impact on both an intimate and a monumental scale.
On view at the Getty Museum (14.10.2014 – 11.01.2015) spectacular Rubens
features six spirited painted modelli from the collection of the Museo Nacional
del Prado in Madrid, the co-organizer of the exhibition; four of the original
tapestries, among the most celebrated treasures of the nearby Monasterio de las
Descalzas Reales (Convent of the Barefoot Royals), in a rare loan from the
Patrimonio Nacional; and several other paintings related to the Eucharist
series by Rubens from local and national collections. The Madrid modelli have
recently been conserved at the Prado with the support of a grant from the Getty
Foundation through its Panel Paintings Initiative.
“Considered
the pinnacle of Rubens’s innovative achievement in Flemish tapestry design, the
Triumph of the Eucharist paintings and tapestries are among the most important
works of art produced in the Baroque period,” explains Timothy Potts, director
of the J. Paul Getty Museum. “It is a great privilege to be able to bring these
exceptional paintings and monumental tapestries to the U.S., many for the first
time, where they will bring to life a remarkable moment in art history.”
The Triumph of the Eucharist tapestries were commissioned by the Infanta
Isabel Clara Eugenia as a gift to the Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales (Convent
of the Barefoot Royals) in Madrid and have been in regular use there for almost
400 years. They decorated the convent church on two important events marked by
elaborate ceremony—Good Friday and the Octave of Corpus Christi—and were
sometimes displayed for other special circumstances. On select occasions they
may even have been hung on the outside of the building.
“Rubens’s
creative exhilaration radiates from the energetic brushwork of the preparatory
oil sketches and within each of the huge tapestries,” says Anne Woollett,
curator of paintings at the Getty Museum and curator of the exhibition. “The
Eucharist series reveal the enormous powers of invention of one of the most
learned painters of the period. Rubens drew on a wide range of classical and
Christian iconography and traditional allegories of Good versus Evil to express
the spiritual victory of the Catholic Church over its foes.”
The 20 tapestries Rubens designed together formed a
complex illusionistic decoration for the interior of the convent church in
Madrid. Remarkably, he devised the series in his Antwerp studio based on
second-hand descriptions of the church. The tapestries portray a splendid
architectural setting in which small angels hang fictional tapestries depicting
dramatic Eucharist subjects. The exact arrangement of the tapestries in the
church is unknown. However, two different viewpoints within the compositions
and a sketch by Rubens for the choir wall suggest the large hangings were
intended to be installed in two levels, one atop the other.
Powerful
figures in motion, rich color, as well as the narrative of angels unfurling
fictive “tapestries” connect individual compositions. Playful illusions and
spatial ambiguities appear in many scenes, as Rubens created different levels of
reality in the main scenes of the Eucharistic subjects themselves, as well as
the illusionistic architecture, stone framework, garlands and angels.
The 20 pieces that constituted the Infanta Isabel
Clara Eugenia’s gift to the convent may have been woven over a span of several
years, from about 1625 to 1633. The tapestries were woven in Brussels by two of
the most prominent tapestry workshops, headed by Jan Raes I and Jacob Geubels
II, with the assistance of two other weavers.
Rubens was a leading tapestry designer, and the
Eucharist series was the third and largest series of his career. Making no
concessions to the weavers, Rubens designed complex scenes with illusionistic
effects in the manner of large-scale paintings. Large expanses of bare flesh, often
in dynamic, foreshortened poses, challenged weavers to create volume with
gradations of delicate hues for modeling. His demanding compositions advanced
tapestry production toward a more pictorial effect. (Text: J. Paul Getty Museum)