Statue of Peter Paul Rubens
by GEEFS, Guillaume, Bronze
In 1839 the Kingdom of the Netherlands lost its southern provinces; Belgium had marked its successful secession by promoting Rubens as a great Belgian, in a bronze statue on the prominent Groenplaats in Antwerp. The large square had once been the churchyard of the cathedral, and Rubens was made on the spot where the cross had stood, symbolizing Christ’s triumph over death.