Religious paintings (1620s)

Change to a High-Baroque style can be seen in Rubens's work after 1620, and it is associated with a magnitude of scale hitherto unknown on Flemish painting. The propagandist nature of the cycles and their colourful decorative effect with strong Venetian traits, are elements typical of the artist's other work of the same time. As a result his altarpieces in particular bear the stamp of Counter-Reformation triumphalism even more strongly than before.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 22 minutes):
Heinrich Schütz: Magnificat