Pieter Paul RUBENS, da.1577-1640

Saint Catherine of Alexandria.1620-1621

Etching; sheet measures: mm 218x142. III state. On bottom left: P. Paul. Rubens fecit. Very nice plate.

This is the only work attributed with certainty to Pieter Paul Rubens. The plate, executed between 1620 and 1621, refers to a composition made for the ceiling of the Jesuit church in Antwerp which was destroyed following a fire in July 1718. The extreme rarity of the engravings attributable to Rubens, almost always with differetn opinions, they suggest that Saint Catherine of Alexandria represents a moment of curiosity of the master for the technique of etching in the period in which he was about to reproduce his paintings by the engravers of his workshop. The work is the result of a successful experimentation of the painter who transfers his monumental style also in etching. Hollstein, Dutch, XX, pp 117-120; D. Bodart, Rubens e l’incisione, n. 1, 1977.