1646
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
The Conversion of Saul with Christ and the Cross is a 1646 by Jacob Jordaens, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a tangle of bodies and light: a man on the ground, arms flung wide, while others reach down to help. A glowing cross hovers above, cutting through the chaos. This is a study for a bigger painting about Saul’s sudden change of heart. Jordaens drew it twice—this version and another in the same museum. The quick, scribbly lines show him figuring out poses before he painted the final scene in a church near Antwerp. Look up chiaroscuro next—it’s how artists use strong light and dark to make drama.
Jacob Jordaens was a prominent artist working in Antwerp in the 17th century. Though influenced in his use of powerful forms and vibrant color by his contemporary, Peter Paul Rubens, Jordaens was notably more realist in his tendencies. This drawing and its companion drawing in the Cleveland Museum of Art's collection (1954.366) are very likely studies for a painting depicting the Conversion of Saint Paul that Jordaens made for the the abbey church at Tongerlo, near Antwerp, in around 1647 (now lost). According to the Bible, in the year following the death of Jesus Christ, Saul of Tarsus (who…
In order to create the arch at the top of this sheet, which is almost a foot high, the artist added an additional sheet of paper.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Jacques (Jacob) Jordaens (19 May 1593 – 18 October 1678) was a Flemish painter, draughtsman and a designer of tapestries and prints.
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