Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard V (1)
The Life of Christ before the Passion : The Youth of Christ
Hans Devisscher, Hans Vlieghe
translated from the Dutch by Beverly Jackson
Turnhout: Brepols, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-872501-71-0
2 vol., 560 p.
The Youth of Christ
The paintings that Rubens dedicated to the theme of the youth of Christ are among the most impressive and influential works of art in the tradition of the invigorated Roman Catholic faith that resulted from the Council of Trent. The majority of these works are various versions of the Adoration of the Shepherds and the Adoration of the Magi. The oldest sources for these and other scenes are obviously the Gospels, but the Apocrypha as well as the patristic and medieval legends also played an important role.
Rubens’s interpretation of the youth of Christ is based primarily on the pictorial tradition in the Netherlands and Italy in the 15th and 16th centuries, a mixture of medieval material from Northern Europe and Italy. Both in the works dedicated to the youth of Christ and in the diverse versions of the Adoration of the Shepherds and the Adoration of the Magi, the iconography of the Counter-Reformation finds its best expression in the Eucharistic communion.