'Modello' for the Assumption of the Virgin

This is not a finished painting, but an oil sketch. Rubens made it as a ‘modello’, or design, for an enormous altarpiece in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp. It was intended to show his plans to his patrons.

Rubens depicted the Virgin’s ascent into heaven as a swirling movement. From the stone sarcophagus, the Virgin floats heavenwards in a cloud of angels, where she is to be crowned. Dynamism is added to the scene by Rubens’ rapid, powerful brushstrokes.