PROVENANCE: Peter Paul Rubens, until 1640 (?); Dominican convent, Antwerp (?); J. Schamp d'Averschoot, Ghent, by 1830, until 1840 (?); R.P. Vereecken Collection; Charles Sedelmeyer, Paris, 1894; John Wanamaker, Philadelphia, by 1904; private collection, London, by 1956; Julius Weitzner, London, 1960; BJU, 1960; M&G, 2004.

Rubens trained with a number of artists including Tobias Verhaect, Adam van Noort, and finally with Otto van Veen, who introduced Rubens to the art of the great Italian masters. This formative influence inspired Rubens to go to Italy in 1600, where he was captivated by the color, light, and vigorous brushwork of Titian. A trip to Rome a year later exposed him to the art of Michelangelo, Caravaggio, and Annibale Carracci. His subsequent appointment as court painter to Vincenzo Gonzaga, the Duke of Mantua, in 1603 and later to Spain 's regents, Albert and Isabella, in Antwerp marks a career of international diplomacy, scholarship, wealth, and a prodigious output of artwork. Although Rubens gained knowledge and inspiration from many artists, the dynamism that characterizes his painting is his alone. His canvases are pageants of both real and imagined history, representing the apogee of the high baroque style of painting. The contagious personality, artistic skills, and learned mind of Rubens caused him to be in demand all over Europe . His paintings became the standard by which all those who followed him would be judged. He became so attractive to collectors that he had to employ a studio workshop of over 100 to satisfy his patrons. He stands as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, baroque artists of the Golden Age.

Rubens and his studio artists used the present composition of Christ on the Cross numerous times; however, Michael Jaffé considers this work to be the modello that Rubens completed for his students to copy, study, and enlarge. The strength and vigor of execution indicate the fresh influence of Rubens' Italian sojourn after he returned to his native Antwerp. One can sense the intensity with which Rubens drew from the wealth of stimuli received in Italy as he boldly infused his own robust feeling for the subject. The suggestion of victory in death and the originality of composition mark this work as a seminal moment in the history of the subject's depiction. Many artists after him were inspired to reflect this new victorious iconography, including the upraised arms, the nails through the wrists, and the undulation of form.