St. Teresa of Avila
around 1615 | Peter Paul Rubens
St. Teresa (1515–1582), a great Spanish mystic was beatified in 1614 (canonised in 1622). The half-length study was probably created to mark this occasion. Rubens conveys the twin talents possessed by this outstanding proponent of the Counter-Reformation – a robust, energetically down-to-earth organiser on the one hand, a chronicler of visionary experiences on the other – by means of vivid, precisely shaped, compact moulding and “ascetic” restraint in the use of colours. The picture is only finished around the head.
St. Teresa (1515–1582), a great Spanish mystic was beatified in 1614 (canonised in 1622). The half-length study was probably created to mark this occasion. Rubens conveys the twin talents possessed by this outstanding proponent of the Counter-Reformation – a robust, energetically down-to-earth organiser on the one hand, a chronicler of visionary experiences on the other – by means of vivid, precisely shaped, compact moulding and “ascetic” restraint in the use of colours. The picture is only finished around the head.
Artist:
Peter Paul Rubens (1577 Siegen - 1640 Antwerpen) DNB
Depiction/Person:
Heilige Therese von Avila (1515 - 1582)
Time:
around 1615
Object Name
Painting
Culture
Flemish
Material/technology:
oak wood
Dimensions:
67 x 69 cm
Copyright
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Gemäldegalerie
Invs.
Gemäldegalerie, 7119
Provenance
Coll. Leopold Wilhelm;