Paul, Peter, and Paul

Saint Paul is portrayed as a powerful, bearded figure enveloped in thick, swirling drapery. He holds the sword of his martyrdom and a volume of his epistles, standing before a landscape that illustrates his fall from a horse during his divine vision. The engraving utilizes the artist's signature swelling line technique to create a sense of monumental volume and physical presence.

Goltzius was a central figure in the late 16th-century Dutch intellectual milieu that blended religious piety with humanist interests. The depiction of Paul's conversion highlights the concept of divine illumination and the sudden transformation of the soul, themes that resonated with the Neoplatonic 'epistrophe' or turning back toward the divine source.