In 1614, the Carmelite Order in Antwerp commissioned Peter Paul Rubens to paint Saint Teresa of Ávila's Vision of the Holy Spirit, marking one of the earliest major representations of the Spanish mystic outside Iberia. This commission was not only a testament to Saint Teresa's growing influence across Europe—she had been canonized just two years earlier, in 1612—but also a sign of the Counter-Reformation’s reach into the arts. Rubens, already renowned for his dynamic religious scenes, was tasked with capturing a moment that had inspired devotion and controversy alike: Teresa’s mystical encounter with the divine. Rubens selects the instant when Teresa, deep in prayer, is visited by the Holy Spirit in the form of a radiant dove descending from above.

Teresa’s hands are clasped tightly at her breast, her gaze lifted in awe, while the supernatural light bathes her face and habit, setting her apart from the shadowed chapel around her. The dove, a traditional symbol of the Holy Spirit, hovers just above her, its wings outstretched, echoing the descriptions in Teresa’s own writings. The swirling drapery and expressive gestures recall Rubens’s studies in Italy, but unlike El Greco’s elongated, fevered saints, Rubens grounds Teresa in robust physicality, emphasizing her humanity as much as her ecstasy. The painting’s subsequent history is less well documented than its creation.

While it was likely intended for a Carmelite convent, its early provenance remains unclear, typical for many works of the period that changed hands during the tumult of the Thirty Years’ War. Scholars agree that Saint Teresa of Ávila's Vision of the Holy Spirit represents a pivotal moment in Rubens’s Antwerp years, when he was consolidating his reputation as the leading painter of the Baroque. Today, the painting stands as a testament to both Teresa’s enduring spiritual legacy and Rubens’s ability to translate mystical experience into vivid, immediate form.