Hiob von den Teufeln geplagt

The painting depicts Job, a central figure of the Old Testament, who does not lose his faith despite the most severe trials and plagues by the devil. The story of Job symbolises the suffering of the righteous and the question of the meaning of suffering, themes that Peter Paul Rubens impressively depicted in a Job triptych created in 1612. The original of the triptych was located in the church of Saint-Nicolas in Brussels and was destroyed in a fire in 1695. The copy presented here is based on the inverted reproduction engraving by Lucas Vosterman the Elder, a close collaborator of Rubens, and preserves the intense visual power of the lost original. There is a similar copy in smaller format and on panel in the collection of the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen/Alte Pinakothek München (inv. 66). Source