The Coronation of the Virgin

Peter Paul Rubens

ca. 1632–33 · Oil on wood · European Paintings

Rubens made this oil sketch in preparation for a large canvas formerly in Berlin (it was destroyed in 1945). The final composition was proportionately taller, with God the Father moved closer to the Virgin. The wispy application of white highlighting is characteristic of Rubens’s painterly oil sketches.

Artist

Peter Paul Rubens

Date

ca. 1632–33

Medium

Oil on wood

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

Bequest of Scofield Thayer, 1982