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| | In the cabinet our attention is drawn by the large canvases, especially Rubens's painting of The Virgin Presenting a Rosary to St Dominic (now in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow). But the main thing here is the smaller works by Rubens, acknowledged masterpieces by the mature master. These sketches are an echo of the tremendous festivities arranged for 17 April 1635 to mark the arrival in Antwerp of a new regent of the South Netherlands - Cardinal Infante Ferdinand, brother of King Philip IV of Spain. The city was turned into a huge stage with scenery created as a single ensemble by the genius of Rubens. Triumphal arches and porticoes sprang up on the streets and squares, their wooden frameworks covered with painted canvases. They were adorned by the carved wooden frames of paintings and stone sculptures. The festivities in honour of the Cardinal Infante combined architecture, painting, music and theatre in what was truly the apotheosis of the Flemish Baroque. |
