The Flemish artist Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641) is renowned as a portrait painter of the Genoese nobility and the English court of Charles I. But he was also a master of religious painting. In his early years in Antwerp, before he left for Italy in the fall of 1621, sacred themes provided his greatest inspiration
      At this time (c. 1619-1621) it was often his practice to make several variations of a single subject. One of his most powerful and influential youthful creations, the Betrayal of Christ (c.1620-21), is known in four versions. The earliest rendition, a dynamic sketchy painting, is in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, while a more finished and monumental version of the Minneapolis work is in the Prado Museum in Madrid. A third variant of the subject, rendered in a more concise form, is in the City of Bristol Museum of Art Gallery.
    The fourth version of the Betrayal of Christ is here on permanent loan to The National Museum of Catholic Art and History, where it is now on view in the gallery. This large painting is very close to the monumental version in the Prado, but it shares certain details with the paintings in Minneapolis and Bristol.
    Van Dyck’s depiction of the betrayal and arrest of Christ is based on the Gospel of John 18:1-12, who alone recorded that the cohort and detachment of guards sent by the chief priests and the Pharisees came “with lanterns and torches,” thus implying that it was still night, to capture Christ. In the painting, which is illumined by the light of a torch and a lantern, an avid band of men surges toward the noble figure of Christ, who stands tranquilly beside the hulking form of Judas, their hands entwined. There is no kiss, which accords with John, who differs from the Synoptic Gospels in omitting the kiss of Judas. In the left foreground, Peter raises his sword to cut off the ear of Malchus, the servant of the high priest. It is only John who gives the names of the protagonists of this lesser drama¹.
    Several preparatory drawings exist for the Betrayal of Christ. Wolfgang Stechow has pointed out that there exist few paintings of the seventeenth century for which more preparatory material has survived
    It is known that the Prado Betrayal of Christ had once belonged to van Dyck’s teacher Peter Paul Rubens, at whose death it was acquired by Philip IV of Spain. During his lifetime, Rubens honored this work of his brilliant pupil and collaborator by hanging it over the fireplace in the finest room in his house