Saint Christopher: watched by a hermit, he carries the Christ Child across a river. Etching by R. Eynhoudts after Sir P.P. Rubens.

The composition forms the outside of the wings of an altarpiece in the Chapel of the Harquebusiers, St Christopher, Church of the Virgin, Antwerp. "The exterior wings of the closed altarpiece form a single composition representing St Christopher and the Hermit. On the left panel, St Christopher, a monumental, Herculean figure, nude except for the drapery hanging from his waist and enveloping his shoulders, carries the Christ Child. The weary saint steps out of the water directly toward the spectator. His intense expression makes direct contact with the viewer, and he supports himself by the large club beneath his right arm. St Christopher's left hand is set back on his waist while his elbow projects forward. The Christ Child, framed by wind-blown drapery, sits on the saint's left shoulder with one leg forward and the other back. The young Saviour looks off to the right at the hermit who holds a shining lantern and stands on a rocky shore, which rises up steeply behind him. In the upper left corner, Rubens has included a three-quarter moon. The powerful light from the hermit's lantern illuminates the figures on the left, and in this way connects the two panels. St Christopher and the Child are brightly lit, but behind them are dark clouds which drop to the dimly lit horizon line behind St Christopher's knees. "--Judson, loc. cit.

"Rubens based this configuration upon the text in the Golden Legend (25 July) where the scene is described as taking place at night. Christopher, as found in this composition, is described in the Legend as being a man of great size. He wanted to serve the strongest king on earth, and after much searching he learned that Christ was the most powerful of monarchs. Christopher then set out to find this king and met a hermit who preached to him and taught him about Christ. The hermit said that the king whom Christopher wanted to serve demanded that he fast in his honour and offer him many prayers. Christopher could not do this, and the hermit proposed that this large and powerful man live beside a dangerous river and offer to carry people across. After many days by the river, Christopher was asleep in his hut when he heard a child's voice cry out 'Christopher, come out and carry me across the river!'. He ran outside twice and found no one, but on the third call, there was a small child who asked to be taken across. Christopher placed the child on his shoulders, picked up his staff and started off through the water. The water rose slowly and the child became heavier than a leaden weight. The further they progressed the higher the water rose and the heavier the child became. Christopher was so tired that he thought he would fall; but he finally reached the other bank and said 'Child, thou hast put me in dire peril, and hast weighed so heavy upon me that if I had borne the whole world upon my shoulders, it could not have burdened me more heavily!. And the child answered 'Wonder not, Christopher, for not only hast thou borne the whole world upon thy shoulders, but him who created the world. For I am Christ thy King, whom thou servest in this work!'"--Judson, loc. cit.

1600-1699

1 print

Pet. Paul. Rubbens pinxit. Remoldus Eynhouedts fecit

J. Richard Judson, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, vol. VI,. The Passion of Christ , Antwerp 2000, pp. 186-187, no. 46 copy (4)

Wellcome Collection 4645i