THE CATHOLIC HERALD
By Nora Hamerman
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| Detail of "The Return of the Holy Family" by Peter Paul Rubens (1624) |
ANTWERP, Belgium—A unique event took place in late June at St. Charles Borromeo, one of this city’s five touristic monumental churches. A painting of “The Return of the Holy Family” by Antwerp’s greatest son, artist
Peter Paul Rubens, came back to the Chapel of St. Joseph near the chancel after a 240-year absence.Antwerp suffered terribly in the Iconoclastic Fury of 1566. Angry mobs spurred on by an extreme Calvinist doctrine that condemned all religious art in churches, and fueled by anger at the cruel rule of the Spanish monarchy in the Low Countries, stormed through the churches tearing down statues, smashing stained glass, and burning paintings. In 1581, Calvinist Christians seized all the Catholic churches and purified them of “idolatry.” [
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| "The Return of the Holy Family" by Peter Pal Rubens (1624) is back on the altar in St. Charles Borromeo Church in Antwerp after 240 years of wandering through the international art market. NORA HAMERMAN | COURTESY |
