The Resurrection of Christ should be back on the wall of the cathedral for which it was painted in time for Easter. And there’s more of his work and that of other masters of the Low Countries in a rural UK setting this spring.

In a side chapel of Antwerp Cathedral, two angels are waiting. Usually the angels are hidden: they’re the panels of a Rubens triptych, not visible when the doors are open. But when I visited recently, the panels were closed, so despite heavy scaffolding in front of them, the angelic figures were all that was visible of the masterpiece. The centrepiece of the work has been removed for restoration: but, fittingly, the cathedral authorities hope it will be returned in time for this weekend’s Easter celebrations. Fittingly, because the work that will be back is The Resurrection of Christ, painted between 1611-12: it shows a muscular Christ emerging – loin-cloth being cast aside, banner held high – from the tomb, blinding the guards with the luminosity of his new life-light. It’s a remarkable painting, with a fascinating history. Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) created it to reinforce Catholicism after two major iconoclastic upheavals, one in 1566 and another in 1581. The Beeldenstorms, as they were known (“statue storms”), were an outpouring of anti-Catholic destruction that were part of the Protestant Reformation.

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