{
"data": {
"id": 159488,
"accession_number": "1996.26",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "The Trinity, c. 1620. Hendrik van Balen (Flemish, 1575\u20131632). Oil on wood; framed: 134 x 107 x 7 cm (52 3/4 x 42 1/8 x 2 3/4 in.); unframed: 114.6 x 73.9 cm (45 1/8 x 29 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund, 1996.26",
"current_location": "212 Baroque Painting and Sculpture",
"title": "The Trinity",
"creation_date": "c. 1620",
"creation_date_earliest": 1615,
"creation_date_latest": 1625,
"artists_tags": [
"male"
],
"culture": [
"Flanders"
],
"technique": "oil on wood",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "European Painting and Sculpture",
"collection": "P - Netherlandish-Flemish",
"type": "Painting",
"measurements": "Framed: 134 x 107 x 7 cm (52 3/4 x 42 1/8 x 2 3/4 in.); Unframed: 114.6 x 73.9 cm (45 1/8 x 29 1/8 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"framed": {
"height": 1.34,
"height_inch": 52,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.75,
"width": 1.07,
"width_inch": 42,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.125,
"depth": 0.07,
"depth_inch": 2,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.75
},
"unframed": {
"height": 1.146,
"height_inch": 45,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.125,
"width": 0.739,
"width_inch": 29,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.125
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "signed lower left: H.V. Balen",
"inscription_translation": null,
"inscription_remark": null,
"sortorder": null
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1996-",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "(Konrad O. Bernheimer, Munich, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1996",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "(Alex Wengraf, London, sold to Konrad O. Bernheimer)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1993-1996",
"sortorder": 3
},
{
"description": "Private collection, Spain, consigned to Alex Wengraf",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "After 1984-1993",
"sortorder": 4
},
{
"description": "(Alex Wengraf, London, sold to a Spanish collector)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "By 1984-",
"sortorder": 5
},
{
"description": "(Sale, Sotheby\u2019s, London, April 16, 1980, no. 184, withdrawn)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [
"The reason the painting was withdrawn from the auction is unknown
"
],
"date": "1980",
"sortorder": 6
},
{
"description": "(Sale, Sotheby's, London, July 11, 1979, no. 37, bought in)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1979",
"sortorder": 8
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": "The crown worn by God in this painting resembles a papal tiara, last used by a Catholic pope in 1964.",
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "This vividly colored altarpiece was made in Antwerp, the center of religious learning in Catholic Flanders. In the mid-1500s when the Catholic Church mounted a defense against the spread of Protestant reforms, known as the Counter-Reformation, it encouraged the production of religious images that promoted Catholic doctrine, offering opportunities for artists like Rubens, Van Dyck, and Van Balen. Van Balen\u2019s painting depicts the traditional theme of the Trinity, with God the Father holding the dead Christ and the dove of the Holy Spirit hovering above. Unusually, God wears the purple papal tiara, intended to emphasize the pope\u2019s role as God\u2019s true representative on earth. Encircling the figures of the Trinity are angels holding the instruments of Christ\u2019s Passion. On the clasp of God\u2019s elaborate cape is a small figure of Saint Barbara, perhaps a clue to the original location of the work in a chapel dedicated to her.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60477268"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1996.26-the-trinity"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Konrad O. Bernheimer, Ltd., painting information sheet, in CMA curatorial file.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Werche, Bettina. Hendrick van Balen: 1575-1632 : ein Antwerpener Kabinettbildmaler der Rubenszeit. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2004.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Alex Wengraf, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 11, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Alex Wengraf, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 11, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Alex Wengraf, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 9, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Konrad O. Bernheimer, Ltd., painting information sheet, in CMA curatorial file.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Alex Wengraf, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 9, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Alex Wengraf, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 11, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Konrad O. Bernheimer, Ltd., painting information sheet, in CMA curatorial file.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Werche, Bettina. Hendrick van Balen: 1575-1632 : ein Antwerpener Kabinettbildmaler der Rubenszeit. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2004.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Alex Wengraf, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 11, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Alex Wengraf, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 9, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Werche, Bettina. Hendrick van Balen: 1575-1632 : ein Antwerpener Kabinettbildmaler der Rubenszeit. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2004.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Alex Wengraf, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 11, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Werche, Bettina. Hendrick van Balen: 1575-1632 : ein Antwerpener Kabinettbildmaler der Rubenszeit. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2004.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Sotheby Parke Bernet & Co. Important Old Master Paintings. 1980.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Alex Wengraf, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 11, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Sotheby's (Firm). Important Old Master Paintings. 1979.",
"page_number": null,
"url": null
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art, \u201cCleveland Museum of Art Acquires Rare Egyptian Sculpture, Old Master Painting, Important Cambodian Bronze,\u201d June 13, 1996, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.",
"page_number": null,
"url": "https://archive.org/details/cmapr4046"
},
{
"citation": "De Grazia, Diane, \"A Message of Hope\", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 37 no. 05, May 1997",
"page_number": "Mentioned & reproduced: p. 8-9",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM1997-05/page/n7"
},
{
"citation": "Marr, Alexander. Rubens's Spirit: From Ingenuity to Genius.
London, UK : Reaktion Books, 2021.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and reproduced: p. 51-52",
"url": ""
}
],
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"creditline": "Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": "Reinberger Gallery",
"athena_id": 159488,
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{
"id": 2908,
"description": "Hendrik van Balen (Flemish, 1575\u20131632)",
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"updated_at": "2026-08-03 14:23:13.110000"
}
}