page_title: The Elevation of the Cross (Rubens)
section_title: Influences
hierarchical_section_title: The Elevation of the Cross (Rubens) / Influences
context_page_description: The Elevation of the Cross is the name of two paintings, a very large triptych in oil on panel and a much smaller oil on paper painting. Both pieces were painted by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens in Antwerp, Belgium, the original in 1610 and the latter in 1638.
  The original is in the Cathedral of Our Lady, as the church for which it was painted has been destroyed. The smaller version is now in the Art Gallery of Ontario, Canada. Another smaller triptych with a different composition, and an oil study, are in the Louvre in Paris.
  Peter Paul Rubens painted the triptych The Elevation of the Cross after returning to Antwerp from Italy in 1610-1611 as commissioned by the church authorities of the Church of St. Walburga. Cornelis van der Geest, a wealthy merchant and churchwarden of the Church of St. Walburga, secured this commission for Rubens and funded the majority of the project. Under Napoleon's rule, the emperor took the painting, along with Peter Paul Rubens's The Descent from the Cross, to Paris. The paintings were returned to Antwerp in 1815, but since St. Walburga had been destroyed, they were placed in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp instead.
context_section_description: The work shows the clear influence of Italian Renaissance and Baroque artists such as Caravaggio, Tintoretto and Michelangelo. Peter Paul Rubens's foreshortening is evident in the contortions of the struggling, strapping men, which is reminiscent of Tintoretto's Crucifixion in the Scuola di San Rocco in Venice. Rubens's version creates a more compelling, intense and emotional response through the re-positioning of Christ. Christ cuts across the central panel diagonally, akin to Caravaggio's  Entombment where both descent and ascent are in play at a key moment. Rubens represents light with tenebrism, reflecting on the influence of Caravaggio. Christ's perfectly molded body alludes to the nude figures painted by Michelangelo on the ceilings of the Sistine Chapel.
  The Council of Trent played a significant role in the subject matter and themes of Rubens's painting. Rubens emanates the spirit of the Counter-Reformation by representing the victorious nature of Christ's death while maintaining his divine nature. The Elevation of the Cross is an accurate biblical representation of the crucifixion of Christ, in keeping with the specific guidelines for art as produced by the Council of Trent.
caption: Jacopo Tintoretto, Crucifixion
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