The Defeat of Sennacherib

The Defeat of Sennacherib (c. 1614-15) at the Alte Pinakothek depicts the Old Testament story from 2 Kings 19 where the Assyrian king's army, besieging Jerusalem, was destroyed overnight by an angel of the Lord — 185,000 soldiers killed in a single night, forcing Sennacherib's retreat. The subject gave Rubens an opportunity to combine his love of dynamic battle scenes with supernatural intervention, creating an explosive composition of falling soldiers and terrified horses that has no natural cause within the depicted scene itself. The divine intervention — visible only in its physical effects, the mass collapse of an army — required Rubens to depict the aftermath of a miracle rather than the miracle itself, a compositional challenge distinct from scenes like the Conversion of Saint Paul where the supernatural event is directly represented. The Alte Pinakothek's collection of Rubens works is the largest in the world, assembled through the Bavarian Electoral and royal patronage that made Rubens the preferred painter for the Munich collections across three centuries of systematic acquisition.

The composition erupts with violent energy as the angel sweeps through the Assyrian army, sending soldiers and horses tumbling in chaos. Rubens' dynamic brushwork and powerful anatomical modeling create a scene of overwhelming divine power.

This Old Testament battle scene from 1614 has been conserved over the centuries. The canvas has been relined. The complex multi-figure composition with its dramatic lighting contrasts has been well-maintained. Some areas of the darker background have become more opaque.