# The Adoration of the Eucharist

- By: Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640)
- Date: c. 1626
- Medium: Oil on panel
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: 31.5 × 32 cm (12 1/2 × 12 1/2 in.); Framed: 47.6 × 47.6 × 7 cm (18 3/4 × 18 3/4 × 2 3/4 in.)
- Culture: Flanders
- Credit line: Mr. and Mrs. Martin A. Ryerson Collection
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/25790)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/15a87438-df7b-8fe1-203f-e0b4d36236a0/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Peter Paul Rubens designed this elaborate oil sketch as part of a tapestry series intended for the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid. Rubens created two tiers of celebrants—the heavenly on the upper level and the earthly on the lower level—adoring the Eucharist, an important sacrament in the Roman Catholic Church, which is lifted by two angels beneath a central arch. The series’ patron, Spanish archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia, is represented in a nun’s habit at the lower left to signify her piety and reinforce her status as an important patron of the arts in the ruling Habsburg family.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0