Bartholomeus Breenbergh

H. Sutterland, Rotterdam, by 1972 (according to a mount at the RKD, The Hague);

With Richard L. Feigen & Co., New York, by 1974;

Where acquired by Dr Richard W. Levy (1924–2020) and Susan Engel Levy (1929–2002), New Orleans;

With Rafael Valls, London, by 2000.

Montreal, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Italian Recollections: Dutch Painters of the Golden Age, 8 June – 22 July 1990, no. 22;

London, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Inspired by Italy: Dutch landscape painting 1600–1700, 22 May – 26 August 2002, no. 9;

Birmingham, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts and The Hague, Bredius Museum, Bartholomus Breenbergh (1598–1657): Joseph distributing corn in Egypt, 29 October 2004 – 23 January 2005 and 12 February – 1 May 2005, no. 5.

M.G. Roethlisberger, Bartholomus Breenbergh: The Paintings, New York 1981, p. 65, no. 154, reproduced pl. 154;

M.R. Waddington, ''Bartholomeus Breenburgh: The Paintings', by Marcel Roethlisberger', in The Burlington Magazine, vol. CXXIII, no. 940, July 1981, p. 427;

F.J. Duparc and L.L. Graif, Italian Recollections: Dutch Painters of the Golden Age, exh. cat., Montreal 1990, pp. 96–97, no. 22, reproduced in colour;

L.B. Harwood, Inspired by Italy: Dutch landscape painting 1600–1700, exh. cat., London 2002, p. 88, no. 9, reproduced in colour p. 89;

R. Verdi, Bartholomus Breenbergh (1598–1657): Joseph distributing corn in Egypt, exh. cat., Birmingham 2004, p. 38, no. 5, reproduced in colour p. 39, fig. 22.

This impressive canvas represents the blinded and converted Saul continuing his journey to Damascus, where he was to be baptised. In contrast to the conversion of Saul itself, the depiction of this stage in the narrative is rare in painting. This picture and its prototype – Lucas van Leyden's innovatory engraving, The Conversion of St Paul of 1509 (Hollstein 7) – are significant exceptions. From the engraving, the artist adopted the compositional features of the grouping of the three principal figures and the outcrop of rock behind them.¹ Like Van Leyden, Breenbergh chose to emphasise the aspect of the narrative rooted in ordinary human experience.

Roethlisberger described this painting as the most monumental of Breenbergh's elongated, panoramic views and suggested that its large format indicates that it was painted on commission.² Executed after the artist's return to Amsterdam from Rome in about 1629, the picture represents the work of the mature artist at the height of his powers.

¹ Roethlisberger 1981, p. 65, no. 154.

² ibid.