04 Works, Today, June 29th, is Apostle Paul's day, his story in Paintings #180

Rembrandt, (1606–1669)

Apostle Paul, c. 1633 (?)

Oil on canvas

Height: 137 cm (53.9 in); Width: 112 cm (44 in)

Kunsthistorisches Museum ,  Vienna, Austria

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669) was a Dutch painter and etcher. He is generally considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European art and the most important in Dutch history. His contributions to art came in a period of great wealth and cultural achievement that historians call the Dutch Golden Age when Dutch Golden Age painting dominated Europe, was extremely prolific and innovative, and gave rise to important new genres in painting.

Having achieved youthful success as a portrait painter, Rembrandt's later years were marked by personal tragedy and financial hardships. Yet his etchings and paintings were popular throughout his lifetime, his reputation as an artist remained high, and for twenty years he taught many important Dutch painters. His self-portraits form a unique and intimate biography, in which the artist surveyed himself without vanity and with the utmost sincerity.

In his paintings and prints he exhibited knowledge of classical iconography, which he molded to fit the requirements of his own experience; thus, the depiction of a biblical scene was informed by Rembrandt's knowledge of the specific text, his assimilation of classical composition, and his observations of Amsterdam's Jewish population. Because of his empathy for the human condition, he has been called "one of the great prophets of civilization. More on Rembrandt

Paul the Apostle, commonly known as Saint Paul and also known by his Hebrew name Saul of Tarsus, taught the gospel of Christ to the first-century world. Paul is generally considered one of the most important figures of the Apostolic Age, and from the mid-30s to the mid-50s AD he founded several Christian communities in Asia Minor and Europe.

Paul was likely born between the years of 5 BC and 5 AD, in Tarsus. He was a Roman citizen by birth. While he was still fairly young, he was sent to Jerusalem to receive his education. 

Paul persecuted some of the early disciples of Jesus in the area of Jerusalem prior to his conversion. 

Michelangelo, (1475–1564) 

The Conversion of Saul, c. 1542

Fresco

Height: 625 cm (20.5 ft); Width: 661 cm (21.6 ft)

Cappella Paolina, Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (March 1475 – 18 February 1564), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the High Renaissance who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. Despite making few forays beyond the arts, his versatility in the disciplines he took up was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with contemporary rival and fellow Florentine Medici client, Leonardo da Vinci.

A number of Michelangelo's works in painting, sculpture, and architecture rank among the most famous in existence. His output in every field of interest was prodigious; given the sheer volume of surviving correspondence, sketches, and reminiscences taken into account, he is the best-documented artist of the 16th century.

Two of his best-known works, the Pietà and David, were sculpted before the age of thirty. Despite his low opinion of painting, Michelangelo also created two of the most influential frescoes in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, and The Last Judgment on its altar wall. As an architect, Michelangelo pioneered the Mannerist style at the Laurentian Library. At the age of 74, he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the architect of St. Peter's Basilica. Michelangelo transformed the plan, the western end being finished to Michelangelo's design, the dome being completed after his death with some modification.

In his lifetime he was also often called Il Divino ("the divine one"). One of the qualities most admired by his contemporaries was his terribilità, a sense of awe-inspiring grandeur, and it was the attempts of subsequent artists to imitate Michelangelo's impassioned and highly personal style that resulted in Mannerism, the next major movement in Western art after the High Renaissance. More on Michelangelo

Paul was traveling on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus on a mission to "arrest the Christians and bring them back to Jerusalem" when Jesus appeared to him in a great light. He was struck blind, but after three days his sight was restored he began to preach that Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah and the Son of God.

Attributed to Valentin de Boulogne  (1591–1632)

Saint Paul Writing His Epistles, between 1618 and 1620

Oil on canvas

Height: 99.38 mm (3.91 in); Width: 52.38 mm (2.06 in)

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Valentin de Boulogne (before 3 January 1591 – 19 August 1632), sometimes referred to as Le Valentin, was a French painter in the tenebrist style. Though little is known of Valentin de Boulogne’s early life, he is considered one of most devoted French followers of Caravaggio. De Boulogne joined a society of foreign artists while in Rome known as Bentvueghels, or “Birds of a Feather.” He also had a close working relationship with Nicolas Poussin, with whom he was frequently compared. Though de Boulogne painted biblical scenes, allegorical images, and portraits, he is best remembered for his genre scenes of merrymaking characters enjoying music, drinks, and games in taverns. These were in part inspired by Bartolomeo Manfredi’s genre paintings, and rendered with Caravaggesque chiaroscuro. Anecdotes report that de Boulogne passed away at his early age after contracting a fever after a night carousing at a tavern. More on Valentin de Boulogne

Thirteen of the twenty-seven books in the New Testament have traditionally been attributed to Paul. Paul's epistles continue to be vital roots of the theology, worship and pastoral life in the Latin and Protestant traditions of the West, as well as the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox traditions of the East.

The letters that scholars agree can be firmly attributed to Paul include seven letters which were written between 50 and 57 CE, while he was conducting missionary work, visiting the churches at Ephesus, Caesarea, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Macedonia.

Enrique Simonet, (1866–1927)

The Beheading of Saint Paul, c. 1887

Ol on canvas

Height: 400 cm (13.1 ft); Width: 700 cm (22.9 ft)

Málaga Cathedral , Málaga in Andalusia in southern Spain

Enrique Simonet Lombardo (February 2, 1866 – April 20, 1927) was a Spanish painter.

Simonet was born in Valencia. His first vocation of childhood was religious studies, but he abandoned it to devote himself to painting. Despite being Valencian and studying at the Saint Charles Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Valencia, he joined a circle of artists in the city of Málaga.

In 1887 he obtained a grant to study painting in the Fine Arts Academy in Rome. Taking advantage of his stay Simonet traveled throughout Italy, visited Paris several times and in 1890 he made a tour of the Mediterranean. He also traveled to the Holy Land. In 1893 and 1894 Simonet traveled to Morocco as a war correspondent.

In 1901 he became professor of Studies and Forms of Nature and Art, at the School of Fine Arts in Barcelona. In 1911 he became a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid. Between 1921 and 1922 he was director of the Private Paular for landscapers. More on Enrique Simonet Lombardo

Paul was imprisoned in Jerusalem as a heretic but then sent to Caesarea. Two years later, Paul was to be sent to Jerusalem for trial, but preferred, instead, to be sent to Rome, where he arrived in 60 CE. He spent two years there under arrest. Eusebius of Caesarea reports that Paul and Peter were both beheaded under Nero in either A.D. 64 or 67. More on Apostle Paul,

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