The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

Vertically oriented oil painting depicting God holding Christ's limp body, surrounded by angels, all with light skin tones. A white dove hovers in a circle of sky above God's head. God wears a domed, blue and gold crown and red and gold robes and Christ solely white cloth wrapped around his waist. Two flanking angels swing incense burners. Others rise into the clouds, holding the instruments of Christ’s Passion, such as the cross and spear.

The Trinity

c. 1620

Hendrik van Balen

(Flemish, 1575–1632)
Flanders
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.)
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1996.26
Location: 212 Baroque Painting and Sculpture

Did You Know?

The crown worn by God in this painting resembles a papal tiara, last used by a Catholic pope in 1964.

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’s 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’s role as God’s true representative on earth. Encircling the figures of the Trinity are angels holding the instruments of Christ’s Passion. On the clasp of God’s 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.
  • 1996-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
    1996
    (Konrad O. Bernheimer, Munich, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996)
    1993-1996
    (Alex Wengraf, London, sold to Konrad O. Bernheimer)
    After 1984-1993
    Private collection, Spain, consigned to Alex Wengraf
    By 1984-
    (Alex Wengraf, London, sold to a Spanish collector)
    1980
    (Sale, Sotheby’s, London, April 16, 1980, no. 184, withdrawn)
    1979
    (Sale, Sotheby's, London, July 11, 1979, no. 37, bought in)
    Provenance Footnotes
    1 The reason the painting was withdrawn from the auction is unknown
  • Konrad O. Bernheimer, Ltd., painting information sheet, in CMA curatorial file.
    Werche, Bettina. Hendrick van Balen: 1575-1632 : ein Antwerpener Kabinettbildmaler der Rubenszeit. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2004.
    Alex Wengraf, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 11, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.
    Alex Wengraf, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 11, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.
    Alex Wengraf, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 9, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.
    Konrad O. Bernheimer, Ltd., painting information sheet, in CMA curatorial file.
    Alex Wengraf, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 9, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.
    Alex Wengraf, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 11, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.
    Konrad O. Bernheimer, Ltd., painting information sheet, in CMA curatorial file.
    Werche, Bettina. Hendrick van Balen: 1575-1632 : ein Antwerpener Kabinettbildmaler der Rubenszeit. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2004.
    Alex Wengraf, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 11, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.
    Alex Wengraf, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 9, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.
    Werche, Bettina. Hendrick van Balen: 1575-1632 : ein Antwerpener Kabinettbildmaler der Rubenszeit. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2004.
    Alex Wengraf, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 11, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.
    Werche, Bettina. Hendrick van Balen: 1575-1632 : ein Antwerpener Kabinettbildmaler der Rubenszeit. Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2004.
    Sotheby Parke Bernet & Co. Important Old Master Paintings. 1980.
    Alex Wengraf, email to Victoria Sears Goldman, Jan. 11, 2014, in CMA curatorial file.
    Sotheby's (Firm). Important Old Master Paintings. 1979.
    Cleveland Museum of Art, “Cleveland Museum of Art Acquires Rare Egyptian Sculpture, Old Master Painting, Important Cambodian Bronze,” June 13, 1996, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    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 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 8-9 archive.org
    Marr, Alexander. Rubens's Spirit: From Ingenuity to Genius.
    London, UK : Reaktion Books, 2021. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 51-52
  • {{cite web|title=The Trinity|url=false|author=Hendrik van Balen|year=c. 1620|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1996.26