DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.62819#0078
4
RUBENS.
The Presentation in the Temple. “ And when the days
of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were accom-
plished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the
Lord.1’ The Virgin (seen in a profile view), clothed in a blue
mantle, stands in the left, her arms extended, and her attention
directed to the venerable Simeon, who holds the infant Saviour
in his arms, and, looking upwards, seems to be uttering, in
pious rapture, the devout prayer—“ Lord, now lettest thou
thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word,” &c. The
prophetess Anna stands on his right, and close to the front is
Joseph, bending on his knees with the offering of two young
pigeons, as commanded by the law of Moses.
Engraved by P. Pontius, Holhenmels, Visscher, and Vai-Green.
On the exterior of the doors are painted :—
A colossal figure of St. Christopher, bearing the infant
Saviour on his shoulders through a river.
Engraved by Eyndhouedts and Van Tiennen.
A Hermit, with a lantern in his hand.
These pictures were painted for the chapel of the brotherhood
of Arquebusiers (who acknowledged St. Christopher as their patron),
as a compensation for a piece of ground which they had ceded to
the artist, when he rebuilt and enlarged his house at Antwerp.
The history of this event is related by the author of the Life of
Rubens as follows “ When the artist decided upon establishing
himself at Antwerp, be purchased a large house, the greater part
of which he pulled down for the purpose of increasing its size, and
rendering it more commodious for his art. In digging the new
foundation, on a site which separated his ground from that of his
neighbours, some slight encroachment was unavoidably made upon
the premises of the company of Arquebusiers ; in consequence of
which, a meeting of that brotherhood wras held, and a deputation
waited upon Rubens, to inform him that he was trespassing upon
their ground. They wrere received by the artist in the most polite
manner, who, in his turn, explained to them what he conceived to
be his right, on the justice of which he had the fullest reliance.
The difference at length became so serious, that both parties were
RUBENS.
The Presentation in the Temple. “ And when the days
of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were accom-
plished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the
Lord.1’ The Virgin (seen in a profile view), clothed in a blue
mantle, stands in the left, her arms extended, and her attention
directed to the venerable Simeon, who holds the infant Saviour
in his arms, and, looking upwards, seems to be uttering, in
pious rapture, the devout prayer—“ Lord, now lettest thou
thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word,” &c. The
prophetess Anna stands on his right, and close to the front is
Joseph, bending on his knees with the offering of two young
pigeons, as commanded by the law of Moses.
Engraved by P. Pontius, Holhenmels, Visscher, and Vai-Green.
On the exterior of the doors are painted :—
A colossal figure of St. Christopher, bearing the infant
Saviour on his shoulders through a river.
Engraved by Eyndhouedts and Van Tiennen.
A Hermit, with a lantern in his hand.
These pictures were painted for the chapel of the brotherhood
of Arquebusiers (who acknowledged St. Christopher as their patron),
as a compensation for a piece of ground which they had ceded to
the artist, when he rebuilt and enlarged his house at Antwerp.
The history of this event is related by the author of the Life of
Rubens as follows “ When the artist decided upon establishing
himself at Antwerp, be purchased a large house, the greater part
of which he pulled down for the purpose of increasing its size, and
rendering it more commodious for his art. In digging the new
foundation, on a site which separated his ground from that of his
neighbours, some slight encroachment was unavoidably made upon
the premises of the company of Arquebusiers ; in consequence of
which, a meeting of that brotherhood wras held, and a deputation
waited upon Rubens, to inform him that he was trespassing upon
their ground. They wrere received by the artist in the most polite
manner, who, in his turn, explained to them what he conceived to
be his right, on the justice of which he had the fullest reliance.
The difference at length became so serious, that both parties were