Het martelaarschap van Jakobus de Meerdere

A large figure of Saint James stands in the foreground, holding a pilgrim's staff and a book, looking over his shoulder at his own execution. In the middle ground, King Herod Agrippa on horseback watches as an executioner raises a sword above the kneeling saint. The background features a fantasy landscape of Jerusalem with Romanesque and Renaissance architecture, including a large dome and a circular tower.

This work is an early example of Hendrick Goltzius's virtuosity as an engraver and his involvement in the Haarlem Mannerist circle. This movement combined high technical skill with humanist and religious themes, often designed for an elite audience of scholars and collectors interested in the intersection of art and theology.