St. Albert of Louvain

What the painting depicts

Christ Child.

From the museum

Peter Paul Rubens executed this study and 38 more as he prepared to decorate the ceiling of the Jesuit church in Antwerp. He presented such highly finished sketches to his patrons as proposals for major projects. This work shows a dramatically foreshortened saint gliding majestically on a cloud. The bold perspective would have furthered the illusion that the painting was a window in the ceiling of the church, offering a view to the open sky above. The man depicted here is the 12th-century martyr Albert of Louvain, patron saint of Archduke Albert, governor of the Spanish Netherlands.

Bequest of Dr. John J. Ireland

Materials & technique

Materials: oil paint, canvas.

Technique: painting, oil painting, painting (image making), painting techniques, panel painting.

Provenance

Matthäus Merian d. Ä., Basel, to 1650; by descent in Merian family to 1796; sold Basel, 1796, no. 27, for F10. Grazio Enea Lanfranconi, Bratislava, by 1895; sold Lempertz, Cologne, 21–23 October 1895, no. 174 as St. Jerome. Dr. Leo Cohn, Paris [according to Puyvelde 1940, no. 38]. Dr. Leo Charles Collins, New York [he lent the picture to Schaeffer and Brandt 1942; a Collins, an émigré, who was active both as a lawyer and art historian, was probably identical with Dr. Leo Cohn, originally of Vienna; see the introduction to Leo C. Collins, Hercules Seghers, Chicago, 1953]. E. and A. Silberman Galleries, New York. John J. Ireland (died 1968), Chicago, by 1955 [lent to New York 1955]; bequeathed to the Art Institute, 1968.

Where to see St. Albert of Louvain

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. View on the museum’s official page.

See more works at Art Institute of Chicago or browse the full Peter Paul Rubens collection.