In Ictu Oculi

In Ictu Oculi (In the blink of an eye) is a large oil on canvas painting by the Spanish Baroque artist Juan de Valdés Leal.

[1] In Ictu Oculi is one of a pair of dramatically chilling, grim and similarly sized works by Leal commissioned for the Hospital de la Caridad;[2] the other is Finis Gloriae Mundi (End of worldly glory) and depicts the rotting corpses of a bishop and a knight,[3] both lying in repose in a crypt, and surrounded by the trappings of money and position.

He stands before various symbols of wealth, power and learning, including scrolls and letters, the globe, jewelry, a tiara (imperial crown), velvet purple and white royal, clerical robes, and some arms.

[8] The motto comes from the latin translation of Corinthians 15:52 "In momento in ictu oculi in novissima tuba canet enim et mortui resurgent incorrupti et nos inmutabimur" (In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed).

A volume of Rubens' designs for Antwerp's triumphal arches for the 1634 reception of the new Spanish governor, Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria, is intended as a symbol of political disillusionment.