Henry IV Seizing the Opportunity to Conclude Peace, also known as Occasio

Henry IV Seizing the Opportunity to Conclude Peace (c. 1628) at the Liechtenstein Museum is a fragment or surviving sketch from Rubens's projected Henry IV cycle for the Luxembourg Palace — an allegorical subject depicting the French king grasping the allegorical figure of Occasio (Opportunity, identifiable by her long forelock which must be seized before she passes) in the act of choosing peace over continued war. The allegory of Occasio — the goddess of the fleeting moment of opportunity, fronted with the forelock that allows her to be grasped in passing but smooth at the back so she cannot be caught once past — was a classical conceit with a long visual tradition, and Rubens's deployment of it in a political painting about Henry IV's peace-making resonated with his own diplomatic commitments as a peace negotiator working between Madrid, Brussels, London, and Paris during the same years. The Liechtenstein collection's Vienna holding preserves this fragment of an unrealized royal commission alongside the other Rubens works that demonstrate the breadth of his work for Central European aristocratic patrons.

The composition combines historical portrait with allegorical figures in Rubens' characteristic dynamic manner. The fluid brushwork and warm palette create a scene that bridges the gap between historical narrative and allegorical meaning.

This allegorical sketch from 1628 for the unfinished Henry IV cycle has been conserved as a preparatory work. The panel retains its sketch-like quality with areas of thin paint and exposed ground. The composition documents Rubens's intellectual approach to allegorical program design.