# The Descent from the Cross hangs as a public altarpiece in Our Lady’s Cathedral, Antwerp

Date: 1614

## The fact

By 1614 [Rubens](/people/peter-paul-rubens)’s Descent from the Cross was a public altarpiece in Antwerp cathedral.

It is one event.

## Context

A cathedral can be Counter-Reformation and a public school of looking. Split Jesuit polarisation.

Peter Paul Rubens’s documented role is bounded by other offices and collaborators named in the sources below. Sharing a field with them is not a reason to drop a documented act, and it is not a reason to assign later consequences done in the name after death.

The 1611–14 Descent (centre 1612; wings 1614 cluster) remains in the cathedral as a public church picture. Workshop shared labour. Church access without a palace ticket is the path.
Named person as heading of the dated public instrument. Later editors, museums, printers, or offices share publication. Complex where later carriers date the row.

## Evidence and sources

Cathedral of Our Lady public pages and KMSKA independently present the Descent as a dated public altarpiece.

Official or archival record: Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp (https://www.closeup.antwerpen.be/en/attraction/our-ladys-cathedral; Cathedral of Our Lady Antwerp).

## Significance

A still-public cathedral altarpiece is a durable education-access path.

A cathedral is not Luxembourg 1625.

A still-public cathedral altarpiece is a durable education-access path.

## What is established and what is not

Established: 1614 Descent as Antwerp cathedral public picture. Not established: that weavers signed it.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

Established here: a sourced, dated public instrument with a named contribution by Peter Paul Rubens.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date, signatory, or non-occurrence; a demonstrated forgery; or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of other causes.

They are not a public rating.

## People

- Peter Paul Rubens: https://factrail.ai/people/peter-paul-rubens

## Drivers

- Digital Learning Access: https://factrail.ai/drivers/edu-digital-learning-access

## Sources

- https://www.closeup.antwerpen.be/en/attraction/our-ladys-cathedral
- https://kmska.be/en

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/rub-descent-cathedral