When the citizens of Ghent commissioned a new high altarpiece for St Bavo’s Cathedral in 1611, they turned to Peter Paul Rubens, the rising star of the Antwerp art world. This oil sketch is not a finished painting, but a working proposal—a glimpse into Rubens’ creative process as he sought to win the commission. Such sketches were essential in the bustling studios of the Baroque, where artists competed for grand projects and patrons demanded to see the artist’s vision before committing vast sums.

The Ghent commission was fiercely contested, and Rubens’ dynamic designs helped secure his place as the leading painter of the Southern Netherlands. The scene Rubens chose to sketch pulses with drama: the Assumption of the Virgin, that moment when, according to Catholic tradition, Mary is borne heavenward, body and soul, by a host of angels. In Rubens’ hands, the Virgin rises in a swirl of billowing drapery, arms open in acceptance, as cherubs lift her toward a radiant burst of light. The apostles below gesture upward in awe and disbelief, their faces animated with emotion—a stark contrast to the more restrained, symmetrical versions by earlier painters like Titian.

The composition’s upward thrust, the energetic brushwork, and the interplay of light and shadow all serve to heighten the sense of miraculous movement and divine intervention. Though intended as a preparatory work, the oil sketch has survived centuries, offering rare insight into Rubens’ method. The finished altarpiece, completed soon after, still presides over St Bavo’s, but this sketch has traveled far from its original purpose. It passed through private collections and was long admired for its vitality and immediacy, qualities that set Rubens apart from his contemporaries.

Today, the sketch is valued not only as a key document of a major commission, but as a work of art in its own right—testament to the restless energy and ambition that defined Rubens’ early career.