Artwork Depicting St. Paul the Apostle

collected by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
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Masaccio (Italian painter, 401-428), "St. Paul," 1426, Tempera on wood, 51 x 30 cm, Museo Nazionale, Pisa. Larger image.

Pictures of St. Paul the Apostle are found widely. Not as widely as those of St. Peter, perhaps, but still portraits and statues of this great church planting apostle are widespread, especially in Europe. Portraits of the apostle can be identified by a book or scroll, since he was a New Testament writer, and a sword, the instrument of his martyrdom. January 25 is the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul.

Remrandt Hamerszoon van Rijn (1606-1669), Dutch painter

• St. Paul in Prison (1627). Oil on panel. Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany.
• St Paul at his Writing-Desk (1629-30), Oil on wood, 47 x 39 cm, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
• Apostle Paul (1635), Oil on canvas, 135 x 111 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Another.
• Apostle Paul (1657), Oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 40.9" x 51.6" (104.0cm x 131.0cm). Rembrandt (and Workshop?)
• Self Portrait as the Apostle Paul (1661), oil on canvas, 93.2x79.1cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 

Pieter Bruegel the Elder (Flemish painter (1525-69), Conversion of Paulus (1567), 108 x 156 cm., Wood panel, Kunsthistorishes Museum, Wien (Vienna), Austria.

Caravaggio

• The Conversion of St. Paul (1600), Oil on cypress wood, 237 x 189 cm, Odescalchi Balbi Collection, Rome
• The Conversion on the Way to Damascus (1600), Oil on canvas, 230 x 175 cm, Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome

Antonio da Correggio (c. 1489-1534), The Apostles Peter and Paul, San Giovanni Evangelista, Parma. Another.

El Greco

• St. Paul (1606), Oil on canvas, 97 x 77 cm, Museo del Greco, Toledo

• Apostles Peter and Paul, 1592, Oil on canvas, 121.5 x 105 cm, The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

Masaccio, St. Paul (1426), Tempera on wood, 51 x 30 cm, Museo Nazionale, Pisa

Michelangelo

• St Paul (1503-04), marble statue, height: 127 cm, Duomo, Siena
• The Conversion of Saul (detail) (1542-45), Fresco, width of detail 101 cm, Cappella Paolina, Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican

Raphael, St. Paul Preaching in Athens (1515), Victoria and Albert Museum.

Andrei Rublev, Apostle Paul. (c. 1420s), tempera on wood. 160 x 109 cm. The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.

Tintoretto, Jacopo (Venetian, 1518 - 1594), The Conversion of Saint Paul (c. 1545), oil on canvas, 152.4 x 236.2 cm (60 x 92 7/8 in.), National Gallary of Art, Washington, DC

Adam Elsheimer, St Paul at Malta (c. 1600), Oil on copper, 17 x 21 cm, National Gallery, London

Daddi, Bernardo, St. Paul (1333),  ---National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Giotto di Bondone

• St Paul, 1290s, Fresco, Upper Church, San Francesco, Assisi
• The Stefaneschi Triptych: Martyrdom of St Paul, c. 1330, Tempera on panel, Pinacoteca, Vatican

John Liss, The Ecstasy of St Paul, Oil on canvas, 80 x 58 cm, Staatliche Museen, Berlin

Sassetta, The Meeting of St. Anthony and St. Paul (1445), Wood, National Gallery of Art, Washington

Alessandro Algardi (Italian sculptor, 1598-1654), "Beheading of St. Paul" (1650) Marble, height 286 cm., San Paolo Maggiore, Bologna. Larger image.

 Zuccaro, Taddeo, The Martyrdom of Saint Paul, ca. 1557–1558, Drawing, pen and brown and gray ink, brown wash, over black chalk, heightened with white, on buff paper. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Giotto, The Decapitation of St. Paul (c. 1330) (right panel), The Stefaneschi Polyptich - Il Polittico Stefaneschi. Tempra on panel. Executed for the altar of the Basilica of San Pietro, Vatican

Gustave Doré (French artist, engraver, illustrator, sculptor, 1832-1883)

• Conversion of Saul (Acts 9:3-5)
• Paul Delivered from Prison (Acts 12:7-8)
• St. Paul Preaching to the Thessalonians (1 Thessalonians 2:11-12)
• St. Paul at Ephesus (Acts 19:19)
• St. Paul Rescued from the Multitude (Acts 21:34-35)
• St. Paul Shipwrecked (Acts 27:43-44)

Unknown

• Philippian Jailer with Paul and Silas, 1900s religious illustration.
• Initial S: The Conversion of Saint Paul. Attributed to Pisanello, illuminator; Attributed to Master of the Antiphonal Q of San Giorgio Maggiore, illuminator, Italian, probably the Veneto, possibly Verona, about 1440 - 1450, Tempera colors, gold leaf, gold paint, and silver leaf on parchment, 5 ⁹/₁₆ x 3 ¹/₂ in, MS. 41, VERSO. Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
• Tondo with Saint Paul, Assisi, Upper Basilica.
• St. Paul, Mural over the door to the Bascilica of St. Paul, Rome.

Albrecht Dürer, detail of St. Paul from "The Four Holy Men (Mark and Paul)" (1526), oil on panel, 215 x 76 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich. Full image.

Pannini, Giovanni Paolo, Apostle Paul Preaching on the Ruins, 1744, Oil on canvas, 64 x 83,5 cm, The Hermitage, St. Petersburg

Dürer, Albrecht, The Four Holy Men (Mark and Paul), 1526, Oil on panel, 215 x 76 cm, Alte Pinakothek, Munich. St. Paul is shown in the right panel to the left of St. Mark. Another.

Shields, Frederic James (British painter, 1833-1911), St. Paul the Aged, stands over an olive tree and Pan, from the painting in the Chapel of the Ascension, Bayswater Road, London, completed 1910. Chapel was destroyed by enemy action in WWII.

Pier Francesco Sacchi (c. 1485-1528), Saint Paul Writing (1520s), oil on poplar, 106 x 81.9 cm. The National Galary, Trafalgar Square, London.

Valentin de Boulogne (ca 1594-1632) or Nicolas Tournier (1590-1638), Saint Paul Writing His Epistles (1620), oil. Blaffer Foundation Collection, Houston, TX.

Valentin de Boulogne (ca 1594-1632) or Nicolas Tournier (1590-1638), Saint Paul Writing His Epistles (1620), oil. Blaffer Foundation Collection, Houston, TX.

Filippo Lippi (Florentine painter, 1457-1504), St.Paul Visits St. Peter in Prison (c. 1480). Paulus bezoekt Petrus in de gevangenis; misschien nog ontworpen door Masaccio. Florence.

Tiepolo: The Parting of Sts. Peter and Paul ---National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA

Xanto Avelli, Francesco (attributed): The Conversion of Saul (earthenware bowl) ---National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA

 

Catacomb Paintings and Inscriptions

St. Paul, Catacombs of Praetextatus, fresco, fourth century.

Catacomb picture of Peter and Paul with the Chi-Rho symbol between them. Gravestone for the boy Asellus. Marble catacomb inscription, Pio Cristiano: Vatican Museum

Sculptures, Statues, Bas Relief

Many cathedrals have statues of the apostles, many of Paul. Here are a few that stand out.

• Paul, Cathedral of St. Paul, London.
• Conversion of St. Paul, Seminary of the Missionary Society of St. Paul,  Abuja, Nigeria
• Michelangelo, St Paul (1503-04), marble statue, height: 127 cm, Duomo, Siena
• Paolo Romano, Four Reliefs with the Trials of St. Paul 1460-64, Marble, height: 133 cm, width: 37 cm (each), Musei Vaticani, Vatican
• Sebastiano Torrigiani, St. Paul  (c. 1585), Gilt bronze, height 87.6 cm, Basilica di San Pietro, Vatican
• Alessandro Algardi, Beheading of St Paul, c. 1650, Marble statue, height: 286 cm, San Paolo Maggiore, Bologna
• Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Paul's Decapitation (1484-93), bas relief on Tomb of Pope Sixtus IV (15th century), bronze, St. Peter's Bascilica, Vatican. stèle du tombeau du pape Sixte IV, datant du XV°, Paul est représenté lors de sa décapitation, supplice réservé aux seuls citoyens romains.
• Saints Peter and Paul baptizing their jailers, bas-relief carving in Mamertine Prison (Rome's state prison) above the altar.
• Medallion of St. Paul, Siena, c. 1320 ( copper with enamel and gilding, diameter 5.9 cm).
• Thorvaldsen, St. Paul, statue in Vor Frue Kirke / Church of Our Lady, Copenhagen.
• Bust of St. Paul, St. Paul's Bascilica, Apian Way, Rome.
• Statue of St. Paul the Apostle, Bascilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, Rome. Another. Another.
• St. Paul the Apostle, shown on left. Location?
• Statue of St. Paul, central doorway of San Paolo fuori la mura, Rome.
• St. Paul and the marble apostles, Rome.
• St. Paul, Church, Boston, old city.
• St. Paul, in St. Paul's Cathedral garden, gilded. London. Another. Another.
• Statue of St. Paul, on Ponte Sant'Angelo in front of Castel Sant' Angelo near the Vatican. 
• St. Paul, in front of the Latin School.

Icons

There are many, many icons of St. Paul, most anonymous. Here are a few:

• Peter and Paul, Russia
• Apostle Paul, AllAboutTurkey.com
• Icon of St. Paul, in Sacred Heart Chapel, St. Paul's Cathedral, London, gilded.
• St. Paul, in Old St. Paul's Scottish Episcopalian Church, Edinburgh.
• St. Paul the Apostle
• St. Paul the Apostle

Mosaics of St. Paul

Ravenna Mosaics (6th to 7th century)

• Saint Paul with his book (rotulus), Arian Baptistry, Ravenna. Saints Peter and Paul flank Christ's throne. St. Paul is shown with a scroll. Detail.
• Saint Paul, circular medalion mosaic, Archbishop Andrea's palace chapel, Ravenna.

Anonymous, St. Paul (13th Century), Roman mosaic, Christus Rex website.

Stained Glass

• Saint Paul Window VIII, Paul in Bonds in Prison, Martyrdom, Jesus Receiving Paul, St. Paul's Cathedral, San Diego, CA, from Judson Studios of South Pasadena, CA. Eight St. Paul stained glass windows total of Paul's life. Photos are no longer accessible online.
• St. Mary's Church, Melton Mowbray, south transcept, contains a large beautiful window with 15 scenes from the life of Paul. Individual St. Paul windows have been photographed. Here are a few:
  • Martyrdom of St. Paul
  • St. Paul, south trancept, St. Mary's
• St. Paul, St. Lawrence's Church, Chicheley.
• St. Paul, Skipton's parish church.
• St. Paul, St. Dominic's, London
• St. Peter and St. Paul appear to St. Dominic, St. Dominic's church, London

From Ecole Initiative

• Anonymous Greek fresco (12th Century): The Embrace of Sts. Peter and Paul in the Vatopedi Monastery, Mt. Athos. Hellenic Ministry of Culture. No longer online.
• Correggio: Apostles Peter and Paul ---Web Gallery of Art

Illuminated Manuscripts

• Breviary of Martin of Aragon (XV Century):
  • St. Paul
  • St. Paul
  • St. Paul
  • Conversion of St. Paul
  • St. Paul preaching to the Romans
• John of Berry's Petites Heures (XIV Century): Sts. Peter and Paul Baptizing --- BNF

Collections

• Internet Resources for Pauline Studies, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary. Brian K. Peterson.
• Links to Images of St. Paul, The Text This Week lectionary site.
• Christian Theological School, image library, Images from Acts, b&w

Disciple Lessons from Philippians

Christian Art and Paintings: Abraham Art | Agnus Dei Art | Angel Art | Annunciation Art | Celtic Stone Cross Art | Christian Symbols and Art | Christmas Art | Easter Art | Passion of Christ by Tissot | Hebrew-Jewish Art | Holy Week Art | Jesus' Ministry Art | Jesus' Teaching Art | Jesus Portraits and Art | John the Baptist | Lamb of God Art | Last Supper Art | Madonna & Child Art | Names of God Art | OT Misc Art | Psalms Art | Palm Sunday Art | Paul Art and Paintings | Pentecost Art | Peter Art and Paintings | Prayer Art | Resurrection Art | Revelation Art | Thanksgiving and Pilgrims Art
Copyright of artwork. Much, but not all, of the artwork linked to on this site is in the public domain worldwide due to the date of death of its author (if it is was published outside of the U.S. and the author has been dead for over 70 years), or due to its date of publication (if it was first made public in the U.S. before 1923), at least in the United States (see Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp.), in Germany, and in many other countries.

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