The Great Last Judgement by Peter Paul Rubens was created in 1617. The painting is in Alte Pinakothek München. The size of the work is 608,5 x 463,5 cm and is made of oil on canvas.
About the Work
To illustrate the advent of Christ on the Day of Judgement Rubens chose a clear compositional structure with the blessed on the left who, drawn by angels, receive the crown of eternal life, while the damned on the right, chased away by Saint Michael the Archangel and other angels, plunge into the depths where they are awaited in Hell. The painting was originally intended to hang above the high altar in the Jesuit Church in Neuburg an der Donau. Rubens received this commission from Duke Wolfgang Wilhelm after the duke had converted to Catholicism for power-political reasons.
About the Artist
Sir Peter Paul Rubens (28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens’ highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of classical and Christian history. His unique and immensely popular Baroque style emphasised movement, colour, and sensuality, which followed the immediate, dramatic artistic style promoted in the Counter-Reformation. Rubens was a painter producing altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects. He was also a prolific designer of cartoons for the Flemish tapestry workshops and of frontispieces for the publishers in Antwerp.
Rubens was born and raised in the Holy Roman Empire (modern-day Germany) to parents who were refugees from Antwerp in the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium) and moved to Antwerp at about 12. In addition to running a large workshop in Antwerp that produced paintings popular with nobility and art collectors throughout Europe, Rubens was a classically educated humanist scholar and diplomat who was knighted by both Philip IV of Spain and Charles I of England. Rubens was a prolific artist. The catalogue of his works by Michael Jaffé lists 1,403 pieces, excluding numerous copies made in his workshop. Read more in Wikipedia
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