In 1619, Peter Paul Rubens took on a commission that would become a touchstone for religious painting in the Southern Netherlands: The Last Communion of Francis of Assisi. The work was destined for the Franciscan church in Antwerp, and Rubens painted it during a period of intense productivity, just as his reputation was reaching its height. The subject—the dying moment of Saint Francis, receiving the Eucharist—was a rare choice for large-scale altarpieces, making Rubens’s interpretation especially notable.

Contemporary viewers were struck by its emotional intensity; the painting was described in 1620 as "a moving vision of sanctity in the hour of death." Rubens chooses the instant when the frail Saint Francis, supported by his brethren, receives the consecrated host from a priest. The saint’s outstretched hands, marked with the stigmata, draw the eye to the center, while a golden light bathes his face, suggesting divine presence at the moment of Communion. Around him, the friars’ gestures express awe and sorrow, while a cherub hovers above, holding a crown of thorns—a symbol of Francis’s imitation of Christ’s suffering.

In contrast to the quiet mysticism of El Greco’s treatments of Francis, Rubens fills the scene with physicality and warmth, emphasizing the communal and corporeal aspects of the sacrament. The painting’s journey after its installation in Antwerp is less well documented than some of Rubens’s other major works. It remained in the Franciscan church until the suppression of the monasteries in the late eighteenth century, after which it entered private collections before finding its way into a museum. Today, The Last Communion of Francis of Assisi stands as a testament to Rubens’s ability to fuse drama with devotion, created at a moment when the Counter-Reformation called for art that could move and instruct the faithful.

Its place in his career marks a deepening of his religious themes, combining his Italian influences with a distinctly Flemish sensibility.