Re-View: S426A (Large Niche) Rubens and the Baroque Festival

Rubens’s oil on wood sketch of Neptune Calming the Tempest (1635) in the Fogg collection is a preparatory study for the left wing of the Stage of Welcome, a temporary stage built in honor of the triumphal entry of the new Spanish governor, the Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, into Antwerp in 1635. This small installation juxtaposes the sketch with an engraving of the final stage and with Renaissance prints and ancient coins and cameos that informed Rubens’s design. Curated by Anna Knaap, Theodore Rousseau Postdoctoral Fellow, Division of European and American Art, Harvard Art Museums, in collaboration with Carmen Arnold-Biucchi, Damarete Curator of Ancient Coins, Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art, Harvard Art Museums, and Lecturer on Classics, Harvard University.