Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee

The Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee (c. 1618-20) at the Hermitage depicts the Gospel scene from Luke 7 where a woman — identified by tradition with Mary Magdalene — enters the Pharisee's house during a dinner to anoint Christ's feet with perfume and her tears, prompting Simon's disapproval and Christ's famous defense of her: "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much." Rubens transforms the intimate Gospel scenario into a monumental composition of figures, architecture, and dramatic gesture that directly engages with the Venetian feast-painting tradition of Veronese — whose large canvases of biblical banquet scenes in the Doge's Palace and Venetian churches had established a template for the subject. The ambition to rival Veronese on this terrain was explicit; Rubens's feast subject differs from the Venetian model primarily in its more intensely emotional focus on the central encounter between Christ and the woman, which Veronese typically subordinated to architectural and decorative spectacle. The Hermitage's holding represents the outstanding Russian imperial collection's engagement with Rubens's ambitious religious compositions.

The composition arranges figures around a richly appointed table in a grand architectural setting, combining the traditions of Venetian feast painting with Rubens' own dynamic figure style. The warm palette and dramatic gestures create a scene of emotional and visual richness.

This biblical feast scene has been conserved over the centuries. The canvas has been relined. The complex interior lighting, with multiple light sources playing across the figures and architecture, has been well-preserved. Some retouching in the background architectural areas is visible under UV examination.