"The Anointing at Bethany "

Gospel according to John 12:1-11

Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany,where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served,while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him.Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.

The painting is a collaboration between master Rubens, the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition and pupil Van Dyck, also a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy.

Rubens conceives the painting as a dramatic conflict between the Pharisees and Christ. The Pharisees’ world of material values and uncompassionate religious views is opposed to the Christian world of virtue, noble acts, a world of sympathy, charity and goodness. The disciples, taking in the words of their teacher, are portrayed with completely contrasting expressions to those of the Pharisees, on whose faces we can read a lack of comprehension, annoyance and even anger. But it is Mary, who takes center stage in our painting. Our eyes are drawn towards her. Mary is at Jesus’ feet with the jar of ointment. On the right side of Christ, we see her brother, Lazarus. Judas (with some Pharisees behind him) is sitting to the left of our composition. He is already painted with a traitor-like expression, questioning Jesus about the cost of the ointment…