Around 1623, a group of artists, including Rubens, Hendrik van Balen and Jan ‘Velvet’ Brueghel, purchased this painting on the Antwerp art market “out of affection to the chapel and to have a rare piece in Antwerp”.

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Moving and standing still at the same time. Allow yourself a break in front of this altar painting, while we first give you some background information.

Michelangelo Merisi (°1569-+1609), named after his native village of Caravaggio, was known to Rubens; he had once recommended Caravaggio’s ‘Death of Mary‘ to his own employer, the Duke of Mantua.

This painter is known for his guts: his daring approach in his technique stands out for its contrasting use of light and shadow; in his iconography, his paintings show extreme realism, say naturalism. An example of the latter are the dirty feet of the common people in the foreground.

They are sitting still, worshipping Our Lady. But at the same time, they are moving, by stretching out their arms and hands towards the Rosary. It is also convenient for contrast that the two Preacher friars, Dominic and Peter the Martyr, wear their black-and-white habit. Their outstretched and pointing hands are like the sides of a triangle, with Virgin and Child at the top. In the composition, this triangle rests on a similar geometric figure ‑ rather shaped like a diamond, with the flowing lines of the kneeling faithful.
The well-groomed man with his mill collar is probably the patron of the de Colonna family; he is the one who seeks eye contact with us, just like the monk on the right does.

Presumably Colonna had given Caravaggio the commission for a Dominican church in Naples. But the fathers there flatly refused the work. They didn’t like it because it deviated too much from conventions and the idealized representation of saints. And so the painting appeared on the art market in Antwerp.

Later on, it was appreciated by a distinguished visitor, Joseph II, who saw it on the evening of June 19, 1781; he earmarked it for the Viennese imperial art collection. Joseph approached the matter from an economic angle, as an enlightened thinker; when he wrote to his chancellor in 1785:

“I have no doubt that we can acquire them, if we exchange them for one or two other paintings from the catalogue. Give the monks one by Rubens, or by De Crayer, or some other masters, who are pleasing to them as religious persons. Notify the Minister Plenipotentiary in Brussels and tell him to pay attention to packaging and transport.”

The Dominicans stipulated that they could have a faithful copy made; it hangs there to this day.

Route North: return to the Sint-Paulusstraat, turn right into the Lange Koepoortstraat, right into the Zirkstraat to Hofstraat: at no. 22 you will see a commemorative plaque for Adam Van Noort. Turn left along the Oude Beurs, right turn to Schoenmakersstraat, left turn Kaasrui, straight on Wijngaardstraat, you will reach the St. Charles Borromeo Church.