Madonna della Vallicella

The Madonna della Vallicella commission of 1606-08 was the most prestigious Rubens received during his Italian years and the decisive event that established his international reputation before his return to Antwerp. The Chiesa Nuova — formally Santa Maria in Vallicella — was the mother church of the Oratorian order founded by Saint Philip Neri, who had died in 1595 and been buried there; the commission to paint the high altarpiece came through the Oratorians and connected Rubens to the most intellectually sophisticated religious culture in Rome. The original oil-on-canvas altarpiece had to be replaced when it was found that reflections from the church's marble surfaces made the painting difficult to see — Rubens's solution was ingenious: a permanent oil-on-slate altarpiece (the material's non-reflective surface solving the optical problem) flanked by two removable panels on copper, revealing a miraculous image on feast days. This combination of artistic and technical problem-solving demonstrates the practical intelligence that complemented Rubens's painterly gifts, and the commission's successful completion prepared him for the even greater demands of his Antwerp career.

Ribera renders the extraordinary subject with characteristic clinical precision, treating Magdalena's masculine features and female body with unflinching naturalism. The dark background and strong lighting typical of his Caravaggesque style focus attention on the figures.

This is one of Rubens's most important early commissions, painted for the Chiesa Nuova (Santa Maria in Vallicella) in Rome. Rubens famously repainted the work when the original canvas caused glare problems. The painting on slate was Rubens's solution. It has been restored multiple times, most recently in the 20th century.