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Peter Paul Rubens, 'The Apotheosis of the Duke of Buckingham', before 1625

About the work

Overview

In this exuberant picture, Rubens seems to suggest that apotheosis – a person being elevated to divine status – is not a wholly majestic and dignified affair, as it is presented in many other contemporary paintings. Here, it seems that any great man taken to heaven and granted immortality by the gods has quite a journey ahead of him. George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, dressed in a seventeenth-century version of Roman armour, is hauled up through the sky in a swirl of moving figures. Minerva, goddess of wisdom and war, and Mercury, messenger of the gods, lead him. His eyes are turned up towards his goal high above: the Temple of Virtue.

This is a preparatory oil sketch for a painting commissioned for the ceiling of the Duke’s residence in London. It outlived him by around 400 years, but both ceiling and portrait were destroyed by fire in 1949 – only this spectacular picture survives.

Key facts

Details

Full title
Minerva and Mercury conduct the Duke of Buckingham to the Temple of Virtue
Artist dates
1577 - 1640
Date made
before 1625
Medium and support
oil on wood
Dimensions
64 × 63.7 cm
Acquisition credit
Bought, 1843
Inventory number
NG187
Location
Room 18
Collection
Main Collection
Frame
19th-century English Frame

About this record

If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.

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