Artwork story
About Reverse copy of The Martyrdom of St Paul from The Matyrdom of the Twelve Apostles
The artist and artwork
An unidentified block cutter made this undated Reverse copy of The Martyrdom of St Paul after a design by Lucas Cranach the Elder. It belongs to the series The Martyrdom of the Twelve Apostles, but The Met does not claim that Cranach cut this particular block or assign the surviving sheet a date. A woodcut is a relief print: the cutter removes everything that should remain white, inks the raised lines, and presses them onto paper. Copying an existing print onto a new block without compensating for that transfer produces the mirror-reversed image named in the title.
The world around it
Cranach worked as court painter to the electors of Saxony at Wittenberg and became one of the most consequential image makers of Reformation Germany. He was Martin Luther's friend and produced widely circulated portraits and illustrations for Protestant causes, while also accepting Catholic commissions. The exact date of this copy is unresolved, so it should not be assigned to a single confessional campaign. Its apostolic martyrdom design nevertheless comes from an early-sixteenth-century print culture in which inexpensive, repeatable images could carry religious narratives far beyond a church or princely collection.
A detail to notice
Paul's execution is pushed to the lower-right corner. The bearded apostle kneels while an executioner behind him lifts a long sword, yet a richly dressed mounted officer occupies the center and turns toward the event. Soldiers, halberds, helmets, horses, spectators, and two heraldic shields pack nearly every remaining space. A second horse bends down and a dog threads through the crowd, making the scene feel disorderly rather than ceremonial. Because this is a reverse copy, even the directional drama is inherited in mirror form: political and military power fills the picture while the martyr is made small but impossible to overlook.
Look closer: materials, scale, and subjects
The recorded object is print made in Woodcut and held in the Drawings and Prints department.
Recorded dimensions include Sheet: 6 7/16 × 4 15/16 in. (16.3 × 12.6 cm).
Subject terms include Weapons, Men, Dogs, Horses, Saint Paul, and Death. Treat them as guideposts, not a complete interpretation.
Collection history and public-domain source
The collection credit line is Rogers Fund, 1917.
The individual artwork page and official image were verified as Public Domain on 2026-08-23.
No Context Gallery independently uses the public-domain image. The source museum has not endorsed, sponsored, or affiliated itself with these products.
Research sources
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